What is it about?
Origins of Inequality begins with a critical assessment of traditional explanations of inequality in the social sciences, and examines the political and economic environment in which they arose. The book then offers a new theory of the evolution of distributive structures in human societies which focuses on the interaction of chance, intent and unforeseen consequences in the emergence of social inequality. Subsequent chapters examine a wide range of historical and empirical material to show how inequality first emerged, how inequality structures were consolidated through processes of social control even when they were costly or harmful for most participants, and how they changed over time. Because I see the evolution of distributive structures as an open-ended process, I also explore issues of distributive justice and options for greater equality in modern societies. The book uses material from cultural evolution, social and economic history and social theory.
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Why is it important?
Explaining inequality structures in human societies was a primary concern of early social scientists from Hobbes and Marx to Spencer and Durkheim. Ever since, social science has tended to see inequality as a universal feature of social life caused by social or historical laws, functional societal needs or inherited differences. My book offers a different view. It treats the emergence of inequality as part of a broader natural process of cultural evolution, but does not follow modern evolutionists who argue that cultural selection ultimately always favors traits that are socially useful or biologically adaptive. Instead, I rely on Darwin's more cautious view that human culture is full of traits which make no adaptive sense. My book therefore argues that historical inequality structures are often caused by chance variations in social and natural environments, and that their subsequent consolidation and persistence is due to self-reinforcing dynamics or to intentional legitimization or coercion.
Perspectives
Social inequality has arguably caused more division and strife than any other social structure in human history. As well, no other social structure has generated so much ideological effort to portray itself as individually deserved and socially beneficial, and to reject alternatives as dangerous or utopian. My book counters such claims by casting a clearer light on the accidental causes and irregular historical pathways of inequality in human history, and by showing the role of ideology and coercion in allowing inequality structures to endure over time. Any discussion of inequality ultimately arrives at the question how the results of collective achievements should be distributed among the participants. How this is done is a matter of social selection. My book therefore also opens the way for an examination of past examples and future options for alternative and more egalitarian distributions of collectively achieved wealth.
Professor Bernd Baldus
University of Toronto
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This page is a summary of: Origins of Inequality in Human Societies, July 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781315616773.
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