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The Marginal Utility of Inequality: A Global Examination across Ethnographic Societies

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Kurt Wilson at University of Utah
Kurt Wilson
Brian F. Codding
Brian F. Codding
Brian F. Codding
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Abstract and Figures

Despite decades of research, we still lack a clear explanation for the emergence and persistence of inequality. Here we propose and evaluate a marginal utility of inequality hypothesis that nominates circumscription and environmental heterogeneity as independent, necessary conditions for the emergence of intragroup material inequality. After coupling the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) with newly generated data from remote sensing, we test predictions derived from this hypothesis using a multivariate generalized additive model that accounts for spatial and historical dependence as well as subsistence mode. Our analyses show that the probability a society will be stratified increases significantly as a function of proxies of environmental heterogeneity and environmental circumscription. This supports the hypothesis that increasing environmental heterogeneity and circumscription drives the emergence and persistence of inequality among documented societies across the globe. We demonstrate how environmental heterogeneity and circumscription produce situations that limit individuals’ options so that some may find it in their best interest to give up some autonomy for material gain, while others may find it in their best interest to give up some material resources for another individual’s time or deference. These results support the marginal utility of inequality framework and enable future explorations of the ecological conditions that facilitate the emergence of intragroup inequality through time and across the globe.
Marginal Utility of Inequality simplified decision tree for an individual. Framework is derived from synthesizing marginal value, circumscription, and reproductive skew theories. When both circumscription and environmental heterogeneity are present an individual may reach one of four outcomes: remain independent, leave the local area, become a dominant, or become a subordinate
Marginal Utility of Inequality simplified decision tree for an individual. Framework is derived from synthesizing marginal value, circumscription, and reproductive skew theories. When both circumscription and environmental heterogeneity are present an individual may reach one of four outcomes: remain independent, leave the local area, become a dominant, or become a subordinate
… 
Map of SCCS societies included in this analysis coded by the absence (circle) or presence (square) of social stratification and colored by subsistence mode relative to the remotely sensed raster of global net primary productivity (NPP)
Map of SCCS societies included in this analysis coded by the absence (circle) or presence (square) of social stratification and colored by subsistence mode relative to the remotely sensed raster of global net primary productivity (NPP)
… 
Mean predicted probability of social stratification by subsistence category from the generalized additive model. Holding all other variables constant at their median value, the model predicts generally low probabilities of stratification among foraging and mixed populations, mid-range probabilities in fishing and pastoral societies, and high probabilities of stratification among agriculturalists
Mean predicted probability of social stratification by subsistence category from the generalized additive model. Holding all other variables constant at their median value, the model predicts generally low probabilities of stratification among foraging and mixed populations, mid-range probabilities in fishing and pastoral societies, and high probabilities of stratification among agriculturalists
… 
Results from the generalized additive model showing the partial response of social stratification as a function of environmental heterogeneity and environmental circumscription by subsistence mode while holding all other variables constant. Colored lines are the mean responses for each subsistence mode. Grey line presents the mean response weighted by the sample size represented by each subsistence mode. Left panel shows that the predicted probability of social stratification increases as a function of environmental heterogeneity for all subsistence classes. The mean estimate across all subsistence modes begins at approximately 0.5, or random. Right panel shows when there is little environmental circumscription the overall probability of stratification is slightly higher than random. At high levels of positive or negative circumscription, all societies except those with mixed subsistence modes have high probabilities of inequality
Results from the generalized additive model showing the partial response of social stratification as a function of environmental heterogeneity and environmental circumscription by subsistence mode while holding all other variables constant. Colored lines are the mean responses for each subsistence mode. Grey line presents the mean response weighted by the sample size represented by each subsistence mode. Left panel shows that the predicted probability of social stratification increases as a function of environmental heterogeneity for all subsistence classes. The mean estimate across all subsistence modes begins at approximately 0.5, or random. Right panel shows when there is little environmental circumscription the overall probability of stratification is slightly higher than random. At high levels of positive or negative circumscription, all societies except those with mixed subsistence modes have high probabilities of inequality
… 
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The Marginal Utility of Inequality
A Global Examination across Ethnographic Societies
Kurt M. Wilson
1
&Brian F. Codding
1
Accepted: 15 December 2020/
#The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
Despite decades of research, we still lack a clear explanation for the emergence and
persistence of inequality. Here we propose and evaluate a marginal utility of inequality
hypothesis that nominates circumscription and environmental heterogeneity as inde-
pendent, necessary conditions for the emergence of intragroup material inequality.
After coupling the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) with newly generated data
from remote sensing, we test predictions derived from this hypothesis using a multi-
variate generalized additive model that accounts for spatial and historical dependence
as well as subsistence mode. Our analyses show that the probability a society will be
stratified increases significantly as a function of proxies of environmental heterogeneity
and environmental circumscription. This supports the hypothesis that increasing envi-
ronmental heterogeneity and circumscription drives the emergence and persistence of
inequality among documented societies across the globe. We demonstrate how envi-
ronmental heterogeneity and circumscription produce situations that limit individuals’
options so that some may find it in their best interest to give up some autonomy for
material gain, while others may find it in their best interest to give up some material
resources for another individual’s time or deference. These results support the
marginal utility of inequality framework and enable future explorations of the
ecological conditions that facilitate the emergence of intragroup inequality
through time and across the globe.
Keywords Inequality .Social complexity .Social hierarchy .Behavioral ecology .
Circumscription .Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-020-09383-4
*Kurt M. Wilson
kurt.wilson@utah.edu
1
Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 260 S. Central Campus Drive, Room 4625, Salt
LakeCity,UT84112,USA
Published online: 1 February 2021
Human Nature (2020) 31:361–386
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Understanding unequal resource access and patterns of behaviour among foraging populations is a longstanding topic of interest [1][2][3][4], with scholars centring debate on whether the evolutionary pathway of human inequality is one of unique emergence [5][6][7][8][9] or suppression [10][11][12][13][14]. Given the significant variation in inequality present among human and non-human populations [11,[15][16][17][18][19], it seems likely that, regardless of the evolutionary pathway, plasticity allows inequality-related behaviour to respond to local environments and resource characteristics, as has indeed been extensively documented (e.g. [5,16,20,21,22]). ...
... Here we follow recent work suggesting territoriality and inequality may be correlated within human populations [30] and explore key resource characteristics that scholars have hypothesized (individually or through interaction) should promote territoriality and/or inequality through pay-offs for controlling access to resources. Specifically, we investigate resource predictability [1,16], abundance [1,31], heterogeneity [5,15,32,33], the economy of scale or Allee effect of resources [32, [34][35][36] and the monopolizability (or ability to control access) of resources patches [5,35,[37][38][39] which we summarize below. ...
... Spatial distribution of the primary resource within an environment is one of the characteristics that has received increasing attention (e.g. [5,15,32,33,35]). Highly heterogeneous environments, those where resources occur in some restricted locations but not in others, may have cascading consequences for both territoriality and inequality. ...
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