Why is theft of personal property less likely to occur in band and village societies?

Question

Why is theft of personal property less likely to occur in band and village societies?

Answer 1

Everybody knows everybody else, and they all know which are each other's possessions.  It's very hard to steal something then pass it off as your own if everybody knows it originally belong to Joe.

Answer 2

I was simply thinking that theft of personal property occurs less often because there is less 'personal' property. Most of what we refer to as 'personal property' in common law, say 'CDs', 'cars' a 'town-house' is either nonexistent in band and village socities or their is less ownership of these types of items. An object becomes personal property in the legal sense only if there are relevant laws that make it the case that the object is the property of a subject - I doubt this is true of many band and village socities. That is, I doubt that many band and village socities have the sorts of property laws that a constituent would think 'such and such is my property'. Hence, even if I were to steal someones broom in a small band society, I doubt there would be a law to this effect: 'object's gained by such and such means or possessed for such and such a time is a legally protected item'. So, stealing the broom isn't quite theft in the sense that we use the word 'theft' as it concerns 'personal property'. But, on a lighter note, if by 'theft' you just mean 'the act of taking an object from someone without their consent  and with no intent on returning the object' and by 'personal property' you just mean 'an object or item possessed by a person and uniquely to that person,' then I still think theft occurs left often simply because there is less people and less things which one would think of as personal property.

Thanks!

Answer 3

They don't really have personal property, everything belongs to everybody. The don't have states, or police to protect personal things. There is no need to rob, they all have equal amount of things.

Answer 4

Because it's like stealing from God...

Who are you trying to fool?