Prestige-based influence emerges independently across egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies

Evidence

Such patterns are not some peculiarity of late twentieth-century Westerners. The same phenomenon emerges all over the world. Consider the isolated inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, a population of egalitarian hunter-gatherers, who were studied by the renowned British social anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe Brown from 1906 to 1908. … Besides the respect for seniority, there is another important factor in the regulation of social life, namely the respect for certain personal qualities. These qualities are skill in hunting and warfare, generosity and kindness, and freedom from bad temper. A man possessing them inevitably acquires a position of influence in the community. His opinion on any subject carries more weight than that of another even older man. The younger men “attach” themselves to him, are anxious to please him by giving him any presents that they can, or by helping him in such work as cutting a canoe, and to join him in hunting parties or turtle expeditions.… In each local group there was usually to be found one man who thus by his influence could control and direct others. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 390

Categorization

• XREF: Shows prestige, not just conformity to majority, structures influence among egalitarian foragers — a contrast case for the conformity-bias account the reader is tracking. — connects to: Prestige grants influence far beyond the domain of skill — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 388; Prestige evolved as a second status system distinct from dominance — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 48; Prestige and dominance are distinct social statuses with separable reproductive effects — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 398 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Prestige evolved as a second status system distinct from dominance #expands (0.88) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 48
• Attention functions as currency in prestige-differentiated social groups #expands (0.84) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 13
• Prestige and dominance are distinct social statuses with separable reproductive effects #corroborates (0.82) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 398
• Dominants adopt individualism as a new defense when group-based hierarchy is challenged #qualifies (0.74) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 674
• Commodities mediate social prestige despite being essentially social not economic #expands (0.72) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 470
• Early domination stemmed from personal superiority absent pre-existing social organization #complicates (0.71) — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 7189