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1. How Inequality Evolved: Overcoming Reverse Dominance
Hierarchies
2. The Myth of Forager Egalitarianism
Myth: Forager societies lack hierarchy
Reality: A few instances of inequality
Gender Inequality: highly variable
Private property: Pi on trees among Paiute
Foragers: latent individual inequality
Prevention: Watchful control by band and tribe
3. By Way of Introduction: Case Study
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari by Richard Lee
Lee conducted an ethnographic study of the Dobe !Kung during
year
He gave the band a fattened ox to thank them
Reaction: Dobe ridiculed this gift
Lesson: the !Kung typically ridicule all unusually valuable
game
4. !Kung San Hunter
5. Why This Bizarre Behavior?
Tomazos answer: Arrogance.
When a young man kills much meat,
he thinks himself as a chief or big man
and the rest of us as his servants.
We cannot accept this.
Someday his pride will make him kill somebody.
So we always speak of his meat as worthless.
That way, we cool his heart and make him gentle.
6. Lessons from This Tale
Even bandsmen know about inequality
They fear domination by one man
Unusual gifts always involve some ulterior motive
So they denigrate this gifts
The reaction conforms to a model of reverse dominance
hierarchy
7. Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: A Definition
Primary Source: Boehms Hierarchy in the Forest
Definition: a collective reaction to
anyones attempt to dominate his fellows
Summary: All men seek to rule
but if they cannot rule
they seek to be equal.
Harold Schneider, Economic Anthropologist
8. Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: Toward a Model
Primary Source: Knauft: Sociality versus Self-Interest in Human
Evolution Behavior and Brain Sciences.
Knauft postulates a U-Shaped Curve:
Nonhuman Primates: Moderate to Extreme Dominance
Bands and Tribes: Strong Egalitarianism
Chiefdoms and States: Ranking to Social Stratification