Small transparent groups need no moralizing gods to sustain cooperation

Evidence

Why are interventionist and moralizing Big Gods rare in the supernatural worlds of the Hadza, the San, and most other foraging and hunting groups? The answer can be found in the evolutionary logic of cooperation that is constrained by group size. In these relatively transparent societies where face-to-face interaction is the norm, it is hard to escape the social spotlight. The bonds of family and friendship, combined with a set of cultural practices, go a along way in fostering cooperation and cementing the social matrix. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 409

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the earlier chapter on how Big Gods and omniscient watchers enforce moral behavior — this explains the baseline small-scale case Rodrigues’ 17th-century Japanese context has long outgrown. — connects to: Big God belief enabled group cooperation that agriculture alone could not achieve.; Foraging societies’ gods rarely enforce moral rules that humans themselves uphold — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 815; Water-scarce societies tend to develop moralizing gods (+6 more)
• ADDENDUM: Supports the ‘On Sacrifice’ angle: small-scale transparent solidarity is the baseline that ritual display systems and sacrificial logics overrode as societies scaled.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 409

Broader Connections

• Foraging societies’ gods rarely enforce moral rules that humans themselves uphold #exemplifies (0.92) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 815
• Highly cooperative societies can sustain mutual trust without religion. #corroborates (0.92)
• Hunter-gatherer gods lacked wide moral concern and omniscience #corroborates (0.90) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 415
• Water-scarce societies tend to develop moralizing gods #qualifies (0.85)
• Gods and governments may be interchangeable enforcers of cooperation #expands (0.80) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 302
• Group solidarity and in-group favoritism derive from mutualistic relationships, not independent moral rules. #expands (0.80) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 705
• Groups obey an ethical minimum that spares them the individual’s egoism-altruism dualism #expands (0.78)
• Reciprocal altruism is really mutualism, not altruism #expands (0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 211