Abstract

In my talk to IAST in January, I broadly discussed my research on status hierarchy, its determinants and its reproductive outcomes. In this talk, I focus on my study of increasing political inequality, in the context of a small-scale Amazonian society (the Tsimane). This study is important not because we necessarily learn something about the origins of inequality over human evolution, but rather because human societies can be egalitarian. This begs a fundamental question: why do individuals accept greater political inequality? I will present cross-sectional data that links market participation to variation in political inequality across Tsimane villages, and I will present preliminary analysis of longitudinal data from one village. My goal, for which your input will be invaluable, is to model variation and change in political inequality within the Tsimane, as a function of different mechanisms. More specifically, I seek to understand the relative roles of "managerial mutualism" and "patron-client relationships" in increasing political inequality among the Tsimane, as they further integrate into the market economy.

Reference

Christopher Von Rueden (University of Richmond), “Unmaking egalitarianism: testing models of political inequality emergence in the Amazon”, IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, March 18, 2022, 11:30–12:30, room Auditorium 4.