Busting the Myths //// Hey! Look! It is Culture that overrides Genes ///// You are Right Ugin Renold //// Perhaps the book’s most resounding sections are those showing how culture, rather than genetics, can shape lasting differences in human values and behavior. //// In a separate series of studies, the economists Nathan Nunn of Harvard and Leonard Wantchekon of Princeton found a similar cultural legacy that shaped trust — a trait some presume to vary according to genetic makeup. Nunn and Wantchekon noticed that the poorest regions of Africa were the regions most exploited by slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. These areas suffered decades of raiding in which any stranger might prove a kidnapper, and in which slavers often gained access to their victims by bribing or blackmailing relatives or village authorities. Clearly such behaviors may have eroded trust at the time, but could the effect last? Nunn and Wantchekon found that it does. The more a population was exposed to slave raiding generations ago, the lower its measures of trust and economic activity today. The specter of slavery, they concluded, had done long-term damage to the social bonds necessary for efficient trade. The economies and people continue to suffer accordingly. //// nytimes/2014/10/19/books/review/christine-kenneallys-invisible-history-of-the-human-race.html
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 20:30:19 +0000
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