Reciprocity, Altruism and the Civil Society: In praise of heterogeneity Contributor(s): Bruni, Luigino (Author) |
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ISBN: 0415569648 ISBN-13: 9780415569644 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $59.80 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2009 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Popular Culture - Business & Economics | Business Ethics - Business & Economics | Economic History |
Dewey: 306.420 |
Physical Information: 0.38" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.56 lbs) 162 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The main emphasis of this new book from Luigino Bruni is a praise of heterogeneity, arguing that society works when different people are able to cooperate in many different ways. The author engages in a novel approach to reciprocity looking at its different forms in society, from cautious or contractual interactions, to the reciprocity of friendship to unconditional behaviour. Bruni'ss historical-methodological analysis of reciprocity is a way of examining the interface between political economy and the issue of sociality, generally characterized by 'two hundred years of solitude' of the homo economicus. This historical analysis exposes an absence and this book looks at the reasons why among the many forms of reciprocity present in the civil life economics has chosen to deal just with the simplest ones (contracts and repeated self-interested interactions). The second part of the book is an analysis (with repeated and evolutionary games) of the interactions of the three forms of reciprocity faced with a forth strategy; the non-reciprocity. |