This article in Science is the reference I'm probably remembering.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;312/5781/1767A citation search would probably find the rest of this discussion, this
paper reports that 15 different cultures all show a willingness to punish
selfish behavior even if it hurts the punisher. The norms of fairness which
trigger altruistic sacrifice vary between cultures, and the amount of
sacrifice varies as well, but they all do it.
-- rec --
On 7/18/07, Merle Lefkoff <merle at arspublica.org> wrote:
>
> If you guys haven't read Amartya Sen on altruism, it's worth a look.
> The "seminal work" is Development as Freedom. Sen argues that sympathy
> and altruism are not enough to effect change. Commitment (to action) is
> the key. I was recently co-faculty at a retreat with a female Rabbi
> who just published a book on the Germans who helped Jews during WWII at
> risk to their own lives (many died as a result).
>
> Roger: these were (anecdotal) and individual acts of courage from
> otherwise ordinary people and hardly the result of German cultural
> conditioning---or was it? And please! find the research.
>
> Merle Lefkoff
>
>
>
>
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