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The Inheritance of Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies: Difference between revisions

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'''Objective:''' ''In order to better understand the long term dynamics of inequality, we will estimate and seek to explain the extent of intergenerational transmission of land ownership, network ties,  livestock, household wealth, health status,  knowledge and other types of wealth in a sample of hunter-gatherer, horticultural and other small-scale societies.''
'''Objective:''' ''To understand the long term dynamics of inequality, we have estimated the extent of intergenerational transmission of wealth and the degree of wealth inequality for 43 measures of embodied, relational and material wealth in a sample of 21 hunter-gatherer, horticultural, pastoralist and small-scale, agricultural, pre-modern societies. Our results, published in Science (30 October, 2009) and a special edition of Current Anthropology (2010), show a key role of both wealth inheritance and the institutions and norms that characterize these populations in structuring persistent inequality. We are currently expanding both our sample and the range of research questions relating to the evolution of human social systems.''

Revision as of 20:00, 14 November 2009

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Conveners: Monique Borgerhoff Mulder (UC Davis) & Samuel Bowles (SFI and University of Siena)


Objective: To understand the long term dynamics of inequality, we have estimated the extent of intergenerational transmission of wealth and the degree of wealth inequality for 43 measures of embodied, relational and material wealth in a sample of 21 hunter-gatherer, horticultural, pastoralist and small-scale, agricultural, pre-modern societies. Our results, published in Science (30 October, 2009) and a special edition of Current Anthropology (2010), show a key role of both wealth inheritance and the institutions and norms that characterize these populations in structuring persistent inequality. We are currently expanding both our sample and the range of research questions relating to the evolution of human social systems.