ABSTRACT
Self-assertiveness and status-seeking can be seen as the principal forces with which moral codes must cope. Assertiveness by others endangers one’s own position, may diminish one’s own access to scarce resources, and may be destructive of the social order. Indeed, it may not have escaped the reader’s notice that this is implicit in equity theory (see p. 154, proposition 1). As a result of individuals’ assertiveness (which may be not unrelated to the need to feel in control of one’s life, pp. 56-8), some degree of hierarchy is virtually ubiquitous in human societies – though the importance of, and criteria for, status differ between societies and between the sexes. And this affects moral codes in another way, for assertive individuals or groups, if in a position to do so, may use the moral code to impose their will, or their view of what is right, on others. In many societies, power often utilises the postulation of supernatural support (Boyd and Richerson, 1992).
