ext_199690 ([identity profile] lhn.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] muckefuck 2008-05-31 12:23 am (UTC)

Don't they? Small children often react badly to loud noises, offensive smells, etc., so the comfort issue is there.

Children also seem to have strong intuitions about fairness pretty early on, though they're certainly educated in particular details according to the culture they grow up in. (Though even if the culture spends a lifetime explaining to the younger brother that it's fair that the oldest get the biggest piece of pie and the bulk of the estate, history suggests that it's not reliably successful at wiping out the younger brother's intuition that this isn't fair. Culture's a factor, but it's not working on a blank slate, and it can't go in wholly arbitrary directions.) Those cultural details don't immediately strike me as primarily economically determined. Of course it's an element, but the frequent existence of intuitions of fairness that run counter to people's economic interests at least suggests otherwise.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting