Enforced gift-exchange norms briefly mobilize group scrutiny and mutual trust.

Evidence

An exception was the Christmas celebration: each participant had to contribute a wrapped gift, and had to trust that the other participants had contributed an equally valuable wrapped gift. … Really bad gifts were rare, and they caused members to whisper and speculate about who contributed them. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 833

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why is mutual gift obligation the one ritual that calls for real trust - and why only once a year ‘in the Christmas spirit’? Worth chasing for the solidarity-mechanism angle.
• XREF: connects to: Trust emerges when clear rules scaffold otherwise informal group exchange. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 833; Mutual trust in iterated exchange is selffulfilling through aligned incentives; Close communities substitute communal sanctioning norms for dyadic trust relationships (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Community norms can produce trustworthy behavior without producing encapsulated-interest trust #expands (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 825
• Close communities substitute communal sanctioning norms for dyadic trust relationships #expands (0.82)
• Future gains from continued interaction function as both incentive and sanction for trust. #expands (0.78)
• Mutual trust in iterated exchange is selffulfilling through aligned incentives #expands (0.75)
• A utilitarian commitment to overall welfare generally implies trustworthiness in mutual exchanges #qualifies (0.72)