#69 The Dunbar Number: Why We Get Along

Wineries in the Finger Lakes collaborate with each other. Yes, it's true, but why?

Guests often say to us, “We hear that the wineries in the Finger Lakes work together. Is that really the case?”

Yes, it is the case.

In wine regions around the world (we are told)—and in California—wineries do not collaborate. The competition among them is too intense. And it has been that way for generations.

There are about 140 wineries in the Finger Lakes. We belong to associations that collaborate on Wine Trail events and marketing programs. With just a few exceptions, we all get along, respect each other and our differences.

And there is a theory about why this works.

In the 1990’s, a British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, proposed a theory that explains why people can get along with each other, as long as their group does not exceed around 150 members. He based this theory on a study of primates, the size of their social groups and the size of their brains.

He then extended the theory to humans. His theory was that humans’ brains could accommodate being socially compatible with about 150 other humans, particularly if they were under some survival pressure. The group also was more likely to collaborate if they lived reasonably close to each other. This would include nomadic, hunter-gatherer tribes, Amish and Mennonite congregations, as well as early Roman military units and online social networks.

(The wikipedia entry on the Dunbar number offers a more thorough explanation.)

Once the size of the group exceeds 150, there is pressure to divide the group into smaller ones. According to Dunbar’s theory, once the group gets larger than 150 members, social cohesion begins to degrade and other forms of social control emerge—such as codified rules and external means of enforcement.

So, it may be something like the Dunbar number that explain why the 140 members of the Finger Lakes wine community continue to get along. We know the people who own the wineries on Long Island and in western New York, but we do not collaborate with them the way we do in our own region.

It may also explain why in France, where there reportedly 27,000 wineries, the competition is fierce, as is the case in California with 2,800 wineries.

And as the Dunbar theory suggests, with only 140 wineries in the Finger Lakes, we are 1) likely to know everyone else; and 2) be under some degree of collective economic or environmental stress. Collaboration, presumably, reduces the stress. And, on occasion, so does the wine.