Caste and Punishment : The Legacy of Caste Culture in Norm Enforcement
Well-functioning groups enforce social norms that restrain opportunism, but the social structure of a society may encourage or inhibit norm enforcement. This paper studies how the exogenous assignment to different positions in an extreme social hie...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090908084948 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4233 |
| Summary: | Well-functioning groups enforce social
norms that restrain opportunism, but the social structure of
a society may encourage or inhibit norm enforcement. This
paper studies how the exogenous assignment to different
positions in an extreme social hierarchy - the caste system
- affects individuals' willingness to punish violations
of a cooperation norm. Although the analysis controls for
individual wealth, education, and political participation,
low-caste individuals exhibit a much lower willingness to
punish norm violations that hurt members of their own caste,
suggesting a cultural difference across caste status in the
concern for members of one s own community. The lower
willingness to punish may inhibit the low caste s ability to
sustain collective action and so may contribute to its
economic vulnerability. |
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