Other Economics Commons^™

Leadership In An Egalitarian Society, Christopher Von Rueden, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Jonathan Stieglitz

ESI Publications

Leadership is instrumental to resolution of collective action dilemmas, particularly in large, heterogeneous groups. Less is known about the characteristics or effectiveness of leadership in small-scale, homogeneous, and relatively egalitarian societies, in which humans have spent most of our existence. Among Tsimane’ forager-horticulturalists of Bolivia, we (1) assess traits of elected leaders under experimental and naturalistic conditions and (2) test whether leaders impact collective action outcomes. We find that elected leaders are physically strong and have more kin and other exchange partners. Their ranks on physical dominance, kin support, and trustworthiness predict how well their groups perform, but only where …

Political Influence Associates With Cortisol And Health Among Egalitarian Forager-Farmers, Christopher Von Rueden, Benjamin C. Trumble, Melissa Emery Thompson, Jonathan Stieglitz, Paul L. Hooper, Aaron D. Blackwell, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

Background and objectives: Low social status increases risk of disease due, in part, to the psychosocial stress that accompanies feeling subordinate or poor. Previous studies report that chronic stress and chronically elevated cortisol can impair cardiovascular and immune function. We test whether lower status is more benign in small-scale, relatively egalitarian societies, where leaders lack coercive authority and there is minimal material wealth to contest.

Methodology: Among Tsimane’ forager-horticulturalists of lowland Bolivia, we compare informal political influence among men with urinary cortisol, immune activation (innate and acquired), and morbidity as assessed during routine medical exams.

Results: After …