User:Nick Gardner /Sandbox: Difference between revisions

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Social capital is believed to come into being by the process termed [[Emergence (biology)|emergence]] by which a [[complex interactive system]]<ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Complex_interactive_system/Definition]</ref>  can  transform itself from chaos to order. The initial position is taken to be similar to the "state of nature" envisaged by [[Thomas Hobbes]] in which there is a constant "war of all against all". That condition is taken to be analagous to the [[prisoner's dilemma]] parable <ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma/Definition]</ref> of [[games theory]], in which both participants suffer unnecessarily  because neither trusts the other. Emergence from that condition is taken to commence when the two protagonists  interact repeatedly and arrive by trial and error at a mutually beneficial [[evolutionary stable strategy]] that once is established  is likely to persist. Experiments with human participants have shown that mutually beneficial strategies involving trust  do tend to emerge, and that their stability  tends to be promoted by an urge to punish defectors. Social capital  then emerges in the form of expectations that others will reciprocate in response to co-operative initiatives; and it can spread through the community as more and more people  become aware of the advantages of cooperation.  
Social capital  then emerges in the form of expectations that others will reciprocate in response to co-operative initiatives; and it can spread through the community as more and more people  become aware of the advantages of cooperation.  


whether or not co-operation takes root will
whether or not co-operation takes root will

Revision as of 04:23, 27 December 2009

Social capital then emerges in the form of expectations that others will reciprocate in response to co-operative initiatives; and it can spread through the community as more and more people become aware of the advantages of cooperation.

whether or not co-operation takes root will depend on the pre-existing set of social and political relations in the community and on the degree of inequality and polarization suffered by society . Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation (New York: Basic Books, 1984).


Social Capital: Explaining Its Origins and Effects on Government Performance CARLES BOIX AND DANIEL N. POSNER British Journal of Political Science (1998)


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