Social inequality and signaling in a costly ritual
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F21%3A00119137" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/21:00119137 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.006" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.006</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.006" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.006</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Social inequality and signaling in a costly ritual
Original language description
Evolutionary perspectives suggest that participation in collective rituals may serve important communicative functions by signaling practitioners' commitment to the community and its values. While previous research has examined the effects of ritual signals at the individual and collective level, there has been limited attention directed to the impact of socio-environmental factors on the quality of ritual signaling. We examined this impact in the context of the Thaipusam Kavadi, a collective ritual performed by Tamil Hindus worldwide that involves body piercings and other costly activities. We show that participants' relative position in the social hierarchy systematically affects the form of ritual signaling. Specifically, we found that low-status participants are more likely to engage in signaling modalities that require somatic and opportunity costs in the form of body piercings and cumulative effort, while high-status individuals are more likely to use financial capital, in the form of more elaborate material offerings to the deity. Moreover, signaling in each particular modality is stronger among individuals who participate in more public (but not private) rituals, corresponding to their long-term commitment to the community. In sum, our results demonstrate that social hierarchies exact unequal requirements on ritual participants, who in turn modify their signaling strategies accordingly.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60304 - Religious studies
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA18-18316S" target="_blank" >GA18-18316S: The Evolution of Ritual Behavior as a Communication Technology</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Evolution and Human Behavior
ISSN
1090-5138
e-ISSN
1879-0607
Volume of the periodical
42
Issue of the periodical within the volume
6
Country of publishing house
NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
Number of pages
10
Pages from-to
524-533
UT code for WoS article
000711151400007
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85112815645