The Importance of Reciprocity in Social Relations

The moment we recognize some one as a different sort of person, either above or below us, then ordinary rules of reciprocity become modified. We can describe a simple formula here: A certain action repeated becomes customary. As a result, it comes to define the actor's essential nature. To be an aristocrat is largely to insist that in the past, others have treated you as an aristocrat. Since aristocrats don't really do anything in particular, most spend their time simply existing in some sort of pudatively superior state and therefore should continue to do so.