Other factors further burden Sicilian society. For example, economic backwardness produces little opportunity for advancement. A standard way to advance is to prevail over others in one's own society—hence, advancement is a positional good (Gambetta 1988, 163).

XREF: Connects to economic sociology concepts of positional goods and status competition, echoing Frank's work on positional externalities.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 973