The Origins of Inequality: Insiders, Outsiders, Elites, and Commoners

Abstract

Permanent economic inequality is unknown among mobile hunter-gatherers, but hereditary class distinctions between elites and commoners exist in some sedentary foraging societies. With the spread of agriculture, such stratification tends to become more pronounced. We develop a model to explain the associations among productivity, population density, and inequality. We show that regional productivity growth leads to enclosure of the best sites first, creating inequality between insiders and outsiders. This is followed by the emergence of elites and commoners at the best sites. As this process unfolds, elites and commoners have increasingly unequal food consumption. In some cases, the elite specializes in guarding land while relying entirely on the food produced by commoners. Our analysis is consistent with archaeological evidence from southern California, the northwest coast of North America, southwest Asia, and Polynesia. Acknowledgement. The authors are grateful for comments at the Workshop on the Emergence of Hierarchy and Inequality organized by Sam Bowles of the Santa Fe Institute in February 2009. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided financial support but is not responsible for any opinions expressed.

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