TY - JOUR
T1 - “A Solidarity-Type World”
T2 - Need-Based Helping among Ranchers in the Southwestern United States
AU - Cronk, Lee
AU - Guevara Beltrán, Diego
AU - Mercado, Denise Laya
AU - Aktipis, Athena
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all our interviewees and survey respondents, members of The Human Generosity Project and of the Aktipis and Cronk labs, and Anna Flaherty for their help with this project and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This project was made possible by a grant to Aktipis and Cronk from the John Templeton Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - To better understand risk management and mutual aid among American ranchers, we interviewed and mailed a survey to ranchers in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and Cochise County, Arizona, focusing on two questions: (1) When do ranchers expect repayment for the help they provide others? (2) What determines ranchers’ degrees of involvement in networks of mutual aid, which they refer to as “neighboring”? When needs arise due to unpredictable events, such as injuries, most ranchers reported not expecting to be paid back for the help they provide. When help is provided for something that follows a known schedule or that can be scheduled, such as branding, most ranchers did expect something in return for the help they provide. This pattern makes sense in light of computational modeling that shows that transfers to those in need without expectations of repayment pool risk more effectively than transfers that create debt. Ranchers reported helping other ranchers more often when they belonged to more religious and civic organizations, when they owned larger ranches, when they relied less on ranch vs. other income, and when they had more relatives in the area. Operators of midsize ranches reported helping other ranchers more frequently than did those on smaller and larger ranches. None of our independent variables predicted how many times ranchers reported receiving help from other ranchers. Although ranch culture in the American West is often characterized by an ethic of individualism and independence, our study suggests that this ethic stands alongside an ethic of mutual aid during times of need.
AB - To better understand risk management and mutual aid among American ranchers, we interviewed and mailed a survey to ranchers in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and Cochise County, Arizona, focusing on two questions: (1) When do ranchers expect repayment for the help they provide others? (2) What determines ranchers’ degrees of involvement in networks of mutual aid, which they refer to as “neighboring”? When needs arise due to unpredictable events, such as injuries, most ranchers reported not expecting to be paid back for the help they provide. When help is provided for something that follows a known schedule or that can be scheduled, such as branding, most ranchers did expect something in return for the help they provide. This pattern makes sense in light of computational modeling that shows that transfers to those in need without expectations of repayment pool risk more effectively than transfers that create debt. Ranchers reported helping other ranchers more often when they belonged to more religious and civic organizations, when they owned larger ranches, when they relied less on ranch vs. other income, and when they had more relatives in the area. Operators of midsize ranches reported helping other ranchers more frequently than did those on smaller and larger ranches. None of our independent variables predicted how many times ranchers reported receiving help from other ranchers. Although ranch culture in the American West is often characterized by an ethic of individualism and independence, our study suggests that this ethic stands alongside an ethic of mutual aid during times of need.
KW - American Southwest
KW - Cooperation
KW - Mutual aid
KW - Ranchers
KW - Ranching
KW - Risk-pooling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109689892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85109689892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12110-021-09406-8
DO - 10.1007/s12110-021-09406-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 34240310
AN - SCOPUS:85109689892
SN - 1045-6767
VL - 32
SP - 482
EP - 508
JO - Human Nature
JF - Human Nature
IS - 2
ER -