Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

The benefits of a maintaining a relatively small in-group

Posted 29 May 2013 / 1

WNYC MicropolisHasidic Supermarkets and the Virtues of Insularity

Although I think that this is an interesting little feature, it mistakenly attributes the benefits of this trust to a lack of diversity. What allows this trust is a relatively small, highly-integrated society. If the larger city lacks anything, it is the level of social integration experienced by the Hasidim.

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1 Comment to "The benefits of a maintaining a relatively small in-group"

Artem Kaznatcheev 1st June 2013 at 2:33 am

I agree with your analysis. In general, when looking at the size of in-groups, it is hard to convince evolution to select for larger groups. The smaller your in-group, the more you can trust them to cooperate.

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