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Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide.

ABSTRACT: Data recently published in PNAS mapped out regional differences in the tightness of social norms across China [R. Y. J. Chua, K. G. Huang, M. Jin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 6720-6725 (2019)]. Norms were tighter in developed, urbanized areas and weaker in rural areas. We tested whether historical paddy rice farming has left a legacy on social norms in modern China. Premodern rice farming could plausibly create strong social norms because paddy rice relied on irrigation networks. Rice farmers coordinated their water use and kept track of each person's labor contributions. Rice villages also established strong norms of reciprocity to cope with labor demands that were twice as high as dryland crops like wheat. In line with this theory, China's historically rice-farming areas had tighter social norms than wheat-farming areas, even beyond differences in development and urbanization. Rice-wheat differences were just as large among people in 10 neighboring provinces (n = 3,835) along the rice-wheat border. These neighboring provinces differ sharply in rice and wheat, but little in latitude, temperature, and other potential confounding variables. Outside of China, rice farming predicted norm tightness in 32 countries around the world. Finally, people in rice-farming areas scored lower on innovative thinking, which tends to be lower in societies with tight norms. This natural test case within China might explain why East Asia-historically reliant on rice farming-has tighter social norms than the wheat-farming West.

SUBMITTER: Talhelm T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7443949 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide.

Talhelm Thomas T English Alexander S AS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20200730 33

Data recently published in PNAS mapped out regional differences in the tightness of social norms across China [R. Y. J. Chua, K. G. Huang, M. Jin, <i>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.</i> 116, 6720-6725 (2019)]. Norms were tighter in developed, urbanized areas and weaker in rural areas. We tested whether historical paddy rice farming has left a legacy on social norms in modern China. Premodern rice farming could plausibly create strong social norms because paddy rice relied on irrigation networks. R ...[more]

PMID: 32732432

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Project description:PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for oculoplastic surgeons worldwide, in terms of care delivery, medical equipment and at-risk patient management. To date, there are no centralized or compiled international COVID-19 guidelines for oculoplastic surgeons.MethodsWe examined COVID-19 guidelines published by oculoplastic societies worldwide. All countries around the world were initially considered in this study, but only 9 oculoplastic societies met the inclusion criteria: (1) publicly available guidelines displayed on the oculoplastic society's website, or (2) guidelines received from the oculoplastic society after contacting them twice using the contact information on their website.ResultsThe 9 oculoplastic societies examined include: the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the British Oculoplastic Surgery Society, the Canadian Society of Oculoplastic Surgery, the European Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, la Sociedad Española de Cirugía Plástica Ocular y Orbitaria, la Asociación Colombiana de Cirugía Plastica Ocular, the Asia Pacific Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, the Oculoplastics Association of India, and the Philippine Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. They all agree that urgent procedures should not be delayed, while non-necessary procedures (including all elective clinic services) should be postponed. When adequate protective equipment is available, oculoplastic surgeons must treat urgent cases. Eight out of 9 societies have provided recommendations on personal protective equipment use in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to adequately protect mucous membranes. Other recommendations provided by certain societies are related to shelter in place measures, hand hygiene and surface disinfection protocols, patient triage, and thyroid eye disease management.ConclusionsAll 9 societies with published recommendations have provided valuable recommendations to their members, regarding urgency of care and infection control solutions (personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, telemedicine, and social isolation).

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Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide.

Publications

Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide.

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