Domestication alone does not lead to inequality: intergenerational wealth transmission among horticulturalists

Gurven, M.; Borgerhoff Mulder, M.; Hooper, Paul L.; Kaplan, H.; Quinlan, R.; Sear, R.; Schniter, E.; von Rueden, C.; Bowles, S.; Hertz, T.; Bell, A.

doi:10.1086/648587

Domestication alone does not lead to inequality: intergenerational wealth transmission among horticulturalists

Gurven, M.; Borgerhoff Mulder, M.; Hooper, Paul L.; Kaplan, H.; Quinlan, R.; Sear, R.; Schniter, E.; von Rueden, C.; Bowles, S.; Hertz, T.; Bell, A.

Authors

M. Gurven

M. Borgerhoff Mulder

Paul L. Hooper

H. Kaplan

R. Quinlan

R. Sear

E. Schniter

C. von Rueden

S. Bowles

T. Hertz

A. Bell

Abstract

We present empirical measures of wealth inequality and its intergenerational transmission among four horticulturalist populations. Wealth is construed broadly as embodied somatic and neural capital, including body size, fertility and cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of coalitional support and field labor. Wealth inequality is moderate for most forms of wealth, and intergenerational wealth transmission is low for material resources and moderate for embodied and relational wealth. Our analysis suggests that domestication alone does not transform social structure; rather, the presence of scarce, defensible resources may be required before inequality and wealth transmission patterns resemble the familiar pattern in more complex societies. Land ownership based on usufruct and low‐intensity cultivation, especially in the context of other economic activities such as hunting and fishing, is associated with more egalitarian wealth distributions as found among hunter‐gatherers.

Citation

Gurven, M., Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Hooper, P., Kaplan, H., Quinlan, R., Sear, R., …Bell, A. (2010). Domestication alone does not lead to inequality: intergenerational wealth transmission among horticulturalists. Current Anthropology, 51(1), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1086/648587

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Feb 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Oct 28, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Jan 11, 2011
Journal	Current Anthropology
Print ISSN	0011-3204
Electronic ISSN	1537-5382
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	51
Issue	1
Pages	49-64
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1086/648587
Publisher URL	http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/648587