Gossip II

Much of the anthropological discussion focuses on Robin Dunbar's theories (he of Dunbar Number fame - the maximum number of people you can keep track of socially, usually put at something between 100-150, flexible), which we have discussed before, also in the context of gossip. It educates everyone about the family/village values, it mediates the everyday changes in status and acceptance, it creates bonds across distance because it is story-based rather than shared experience. That link leads in turn to our brief discussion of The Dawn of Everything, which discusses a great deal about gossip as "our first government." 

I know I promised more discussion in this second section, because I knew I had read more on this topic elsewhere in the last couple of years. Following my own links, I discovered that the main place I had read about it was...(sheepishly) here. There are further links to David Foster and ACX within the links above.  You can treat this as a refresher, then.