a contest of beneficence 109
the relative ranking of the actors. It helps in fleshing out deference and
subordination and establishes a social bond between the donor and the
recipient. Thus, the recipient trades increased subordination for mate-
rial benefits and tighter connections to a member of a higher class. This
combination of material benefits and social bonds may offset the loss of
autonomy. David Lake ( 2009 , 104 – 11 ), for example, finds that the United
States is more likely to offer military assistance to its subordinates in time
of crisis. American willingness to intervene on behalf of its subordinates
increases with increased levels of hierarchy.
While gift giving consolidates a dominant- subordinate relationship be-
tween the donor and the recipient, it also helps bystanders identify local
structures of hierarchy. This signaling is achieved through a conspicuous
demonstration of excess on one side and a conspicuous demonstration of
need on the other. The conspicuousness of giving is thus crucial for the
establishment of social hierarchy. Therefore, the target audience of gener-
osity is not limited to the recipients. Studies of philanthropy, for example,
find that most of the signaling is directed at other members of the elite,
who know who sits on what board and how much it costs to buy a table
at a charity dinner (Ostrower 1997 ). Van der Veen uses a similar logic to
explain the convergence of foreign aid donors on a few attractive recipi-
ents. By contributing to the same recipient, donors ensure that their do-
nation is visible to other competing donors (Van der Veen 2000 , 241 ).
Thus, once a recipient gains aid from one donor, it increases the probabil-
ity of gaining aid from others. This bandwagoning increases the broadcast
efficiency of the prosocial signal and offers a more contained environment
for a contest of beneficence.^16
Prosociality and Conflict
For Zahavi and Zahavi ( 1997 ) a contest of beneficence is the main indica-
tion that prosociality is used as a signal of status contestation, conspicu-
ously carried out in front of a prestige space. International competition is
often described in ways that connect it to arms races, violence, and war.
Contests of beneficence allow competitors to battle using more palatable
means. Is there a way to understand a shift from competition through
violence to contestation through generosity? Evolutionary theorists pro-
vide an account for such transformation (Zahavi and Zahavi 1997 ). In
functionalist terms a contest of beneficence offers a more efficient and
less destructive method of competition. Groups that establish hierarchy
