Special Norms for Large-scale Anonymous Societies

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For large-scale anonymous societies to function well, special norms are required to ensure fair treatment among strangers, especially in market transactions. These norms are necessary as market interactions rely on ephemeral interactions without the presence of relationship cues. The study emphasizes the importance of these norms in facilitating market functioning and highlights that fairness is crucial in monetary exchanges. The research also indicates that participation in a world religion can influence fair behavior in societal interactions, contributing to the success of large-scale societies.

Joe Henrich joins the podcast to tell us that we know nothing about his work and that how we got to teach a class in anything is absolutely amazing. We continue our discussion from Episode 17 about his critique of the social and behavioral sciences in "The Weirdest People in the World" and his work in small scale societies on fairness norms. We also talk about the weird American obsession with happiness, monkeys throwing cucumbers, and why some people reject "hyper-fair" offers of more than the half the pot in the ultimatum games.

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