Nothing else matters: evolution of preference for social prestige

Zakharenko, Roman (2012): Nothing else matters: evolution of preference for social prestige.

Abstract

This paper seeks answers to two questions. First, if a greater social activity of an individual enhances oblique (i.e. to non-relatives) transmission of her cultural traits, but reduces their vertical (i.e. to children) transmission as well as family size, which behavior is optimal from cultural evolution standpoint? I formalize a general model that characterizes evolutionarily stable behaviors. The proposed model replicates the theory of Newson et al. (2007) that fertility decline is caused by increasing role of oblique cultural transmission. Second, if social activity is a rational choice rather than culturally inherited trait, and if cultural transmission acts on preferences rather than decisions, which preferences survive the process of cultural evolution? I arrive at a very simple yet powerful result: under mild assumptions on model structure, only preferences which emphasize exclusively the concern for social prestige, i.e. extent to which one’s cultural trait has been picked up by others, survive.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Cultural transmission, demographic transition, social prestige, evolutionary steady state
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory > C73 - Stochastic and Dynamic Games ; Evolutionary Games ; Repeated Games; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J11 - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

References

Baudin, T., 2010. A role for cultural transmission in fertility transitions. Macroeconomic Dynamics 14 (04), 454–481.

Bisin, A., Verdier, T., 1998. On the cultural transmission of preferences for social status. Journal of Public Economics 70 (1), 75 – 97.

Bisin, A., Verdier, T., 2001. The economics of cultural transmission and the dynamics of preferences. Journal of Economic Theory 97 (2), 298 – 319.

Blackmore, S., 2000. The meme machine. Oxford University Press.

Boyd, R., Richerson, P. J., 1985. Culture and the Evolutionary Process. The University of Chicago Press.

Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Feldman, M. W., May 1981. Cultural Transmission and Evolution. Princeton University Press.

Henrich, J., Gil-White, F. J., 2001. The evolution of prestige: freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior 22 (3), 165 – 196.

Newson, L., 2009. Cultural versus reproductive success: Why does economic development bring new tradeoffs? American Journal of Human Biology 21 (4), 464–471.

Newson, L., Postmes, T., Lea, S., Webley, P., Richerson, P. J., McElreath, R., 2007. Influences on communication about reproduction: the cultural evolution of low fertility. Evolution and Human Behavior 28 (3), 199 – 210.