Inequality

Abstract

One of the most important characteristics of human societies throughout history has been the level of inequality among people in these societies. The level of inequality is usually related to economic advancement and a stronger position in the world economy, political stability, even civil war and revolution. The level of human inequalities has increased since the earliest simple horticultural societies from about 10,000 years ago. Inequality generally reached its highest historical level in the most advanced agricultural societies before the industrial revolution. As more advanced industrial societies emerged during the twentieth century the level of inequalities within societies were being reduced. However, during the last decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty‐first century these inequalities in many advanced industrial societies began to increase again. Both political policies and a changing global economy help explain this reversal of decreased inequality in many advanced industrial societies.