Abstract
Social inequality is ubiquitous in contemporary human societies, and has deleterious social and ecological impacts. However, the factors that shape the emergence and maintenance of inequality remain widely debated. Here we conduct a global analysis of pathways to inequality by comparing 408 non-industrial societies in the anthropological record (described largely between 1860 and 1960) that vary in degree of inequality. We apply structural equation modelling to open-access environmental and ethnographic data and explore two alternative models varying in the links among factors proposed by prior literature, including environmental conditions, resource intensification, wealth transmission, population size and a well-documented form of inequality: social class hierarchies. We found support for a model in which the probability of social class hierarchies is associated directly with increases in population size, the propensity to use intensive agriculture and domesticated large mammals, unigeniture inheritance of real property and hereditary political succession. We suggest that influence of environmental variables on inequality is mediated by measures of resource intensification, which, in turn, may influence inequality directly or indirectly via effects on wealth transmission variables. Overall, we conclude that in our analysis a complex network of effects are associated with social class hierarchies.
Highlights
Social and economic inequality are ubiquitous in contemporary human societies, a trend that has been linked to a number of detrimental consequences for the environment, the stability of political and economic systems and the well-being of individuals (Cushing, Morello-Frosch, Wander, & Pastor, 2015; Hurst, Fitz Gibbon, & Nurse, 2017; Karl, 2000)
We focus on four sets of factors proposed by prior literature: environmental conditions, intensification in resource management, wealth transmission patterns and population size
We explore the direct links between resource intensification and social inequality, as well as the degree to which the effects of resource intensification are mediated by wealth transmission norms
Summary
Social and economic inequality are ubiquitous in contemporary human societies, a trend that has been linked to a number of detrimental consequences for the environment, the stability of political and economic systems and the well-being of individuals (Cushing, Morello-Frosch, Wander, & Pastor, 2015; Hurst, Fitz Gibbon, & Nurse, 2017; Karl, 2000). This inequality has been formalised and reinforced by cultural institutions like social class hierarchies and caste systems. We focus on four sets of factors proposed by prior literature: environmental conditions, intensification in resource management, wealth transmission patterns and population size
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