According to a new study from the University of Georgia Sociology Department by Dr. William Pridemore, Marienthal Professor of Sociology and head of the department of sociology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and co-author Meghan Rogers (University of Iowa), countries with a stronger market orientation may experience lower rates of homicide. Market orientation and market integration refer to how freely a nation’s economy functions within a framework of legal rights and freedoms such as enforcing contracts, protecting property and ensuring equal opportunity. In this study, the researchers found that a stronger market orientation could decrease murder rates, with even a one-point shift on a market freedom scale leading to a 22% drop in homicides. Countries that allow buying, selling, working and investing with fewer obstacles and more legal protection were more capable of building peaceful, cooperative communities moving forward. “If a trader wants to make a living, they must trade with all sorts of people who look or speak differently from them,” said William Pridemore, lead author of the study. “The more this happens, the more it can also actually increase social cohesion. The more time you spend around people that are unlike you, you begin to realize that we all have similar wants and needs. It helps to humanize us to each other.” Read more here: UGA Today
