Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Image of Limited Good, or Expectation of Reciprocity? [and Comments and Reply]

1975; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/201518

1537-5382

James R. Gregory, Peter J. Bertocci, Henri J. M. Claessen, Matthew Cooper, Peter Coy, Alain Y. Dessaint, Ronald J. Duncan, George M. Foster, Charles Lave, Grant McCall, Thomas J. Maloney, Manning Nash, Claude Robineau, Richard F. Salisbury, Harold K. Schneider, Sharon W. Tiffany,

Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Foster's limited-good model has been both widely accepted and roundly criticized. Upon superficial examination, certain behavior patterns among the Mopan Maya of southern Belize seem to reflect the presence of a limited-good cognition. With closer scrutiny, however, much contrary evidence emerges, and the behavior patterns in question appear, instead, to stem from what is tentatively termed the expectation of circumstantially balanced reciprocity (ECBR), a deep seated expectation that those who have more should share with those who have less. The zero-sum game implicit in the limited-good model is not involved; it is understood that "goods" may be increased in absolute quantity. However, it is felt that all should share equally in the increase. In the traditional Mopan system, ECBR was expressed primarily through pressuring men with greater means to become fiesta sponsors and to come to the aid of other members of the community who were in need. Traditionally, the primary function of the expectation was to underwrite the people's security. In doing so, it acted as an economic leveler and also served to integrate the community. In recent years, ECBR has come to be extended beyond the traditional system: to members of the community who have recently become "big men" through involvement with the larger society, to the national government, and even to members of certain other societies. It is noted that it would be easy to confuse ECBR with behavior in terms of a limited-good cognition and that there is suggestive evidence that other instances of ECBR may have been mistakenly interpreted as limited-good behavior. ECBR is offered as an alternative to the limited-good model.