The Emergence of Inequality

Abstract

In the history of the human species, there is no more significant transition than the emergence and institutionalization of inequality. Yet strangely, until recently, this critical issue has received less direct concern in archaeological discussions of social change than two other important evolutionary questions, the origins of agriculture and the rise of the state. In part, this lack of focused attention accounts for the pessimism cited above, especially when the enormity of this general issue is considered. Yet, in part, these comments also may stem from the inability of ecologically oriented scholars, like Binford and Kelly, to define a specific and parsimonious suite of exogenous conditions (e.g., environment, population) that can convincingly explain this key socioeconomic transition.