I was wondering about this too.. when I got to the part about how the Tibetan herders were even more against rank reversal, it reinforced it for me.
When someone is a herder, the only way to earn wealth is by working long hours, busting your butt day in day out, and being careful about what you have.
I'd wager their mindset is that they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else.
"they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else"
Except that the scenario was explicitly designed to make clear that the wealth in question was not a result of effort but was acquired purely randomly.
> they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else
Or they believe in divine right / hereditary caste system. In fact a long established hereditary caste system was dominate in 1959[0], Thinking that some long standing social construct is simply going to evaporate is a bit naïve.
When someone is a herder, the only way to earn wealth is by working long hours, busting your butt day in day out, and being careful about what you have.
I'd wager their mindset is that they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else.