Gratitude for past favors is a primary social cohesion mechanism.

Evidence

If every grateful action, which lingers on from good turns received in the past, were suddenly eliminated, society (at least as we know it) would break apart. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 9294

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Simmel’s exchange and reciprocity themes, and to the broader question of what holds society together absent formal institutions — resonates with Shapiro’s guardianship analysis and the Milgrom law-merchant material. — connects to: The practice of giving thanks is what history could not take away — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 134; Gratitude, not just policy, is what plants the seed of abundance — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1392