Deep Inequality:

Kohler, Timothy A.; Smith, Michael E.; Bogaard, Amy; Peterson, Christian E.; Betzenhauser, Alleen; Feinman, Gary M.; Oka, Rahul; Pailes, Matthew; Prentiss, Anna Marie; Stone, Elizabeth C.; Dennehy, Timothy J.; Ellyson, Laura J.

doi:10.2307/j.ctt20d8801.14

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…This topic has been of long-standing interest to anthropologists (e.g., Durkheim 2014 [1893]) but has only developed as a central focus for archaeologists in recent decades. A substantial quantity of ethnographic and archaeological work (e.g., Borgerhoff Mulder et al 2009; Flannery and Marcus 2012; Gurven et al 2010; Kohler and Smith 2018; Kohler et al 2017, 2018; Mattison et al 2016; Smith et al 2010) has explored the wide range of conditions that are thought to favor the emergence of inequality. Mattison and colleagues (2016) summarize this information and point to a specific set of factors associated with the onset of what they term persistent institutionalized inequality (PII) defined as “differential access to power or resources involving institutionalization of status hierarchies by hereditary privileges or positions such as social classes, castes, hereditary titles, or heritable differences in wealth” (2016:185).…”

Section: Theorizing the Evolution Of Social Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

et al. 2018

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The evolution of material wealth-based inequality is an important topic in archaeological research. While a number of explanatory models have been proposed, rarely have they been adequately tested. A significant challenge to testing such models concerns our ability to define distinct, temporally short-term, residential occupations in the archaeological record. Sites often lack evidence for temporally persistent inequality, or, when present, the palimpsest nature of the deposits often make it difficult to define the processes of change on scales that are fine enough to evaluate nuanced model predictions. In this article, we use the detailed record of Housepit 54 from the Bridge River site, interior British Columbia, to evaluate several alternative hypotheses regarding the evolution of persistent material wealth-based inequality. Results of our analyses indicate that inequality appeared abruptly coincident with a decline in intra-house cooperation associated with population packing and the initiation of periodic subsistence stress. We conclude that persistent inequality in this context was a byproduct of altered social networks linked to a Malthusian transition and ceiling.

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Section: Theorizing the Evolution Of Social Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

et al. 2018

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“…The Gini coefficients for total surface area of architecture, roofed area, and houselot space are 0.383, 0.437, and 0.423, respectively (see Table 2). These levels of inequality are substantial, but do not strike us as pathological; they fit well within the range of many ancient and modern state-level cities and societies (Kohler et al 2018) and other Mesoamerican centers (Thompson et al 2021:Table 5).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…In our introduction we posited that extreme inequality in urban settings can be dysfunctional, yet differences in wealth attract people to cities. Coba's Gini coefficient for volume of architecture, including monumental groups, is extreme—0.759—and exceeds the degree of inequality in nearly all cities and societies, both modern and ancient, that have Gini coefficients (Kohler et al 2018; Kurtzleben 2011; Shenk et al 2010; United Nations Human Settlement Programme 2010). Yet including the volume of monumental groups (which consist of both public and residential buildings) skews the sample (Basri and Lawrence 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality, urbanism, and governance at Coba and the Northern Maya Lowlands

Hutson,

Stanton,

Ardren

2023

Ancient Mesoam

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Gini coefficients for residential groups at Coba for roofed surface area, volume of architecture, and houselot space range from 0.423 to 0.551, fitting well within the range of many ancient and modern state-level cities and societies and other Mesoamerican centers. These values are also similar to other large, Classic period, Northern Lowland cities, such as Dzibilchaltun and Chunchucmil. These data do not support the idea that autocratic regimes exhibit greater wealth inequality. We also failed to find a pattern in which inequality grew over the course of the Classic period. The Lorenz curves for Coba and other sites do not indicate any breaks that would allow households to be sorted into wealth classes. Thus, wealth differences were fluid, continuous, and out in the open, giving these settlements the dynamism and attractiveness that helped them grow into some of the largest and most remarkable ancient Maya cities.

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“…The parallels between Gini coefficients for individual residential structures and the entire plazuela extend beyond southern Belize. At Mayapan, the difference in area Gini coefficients for individual structures (0.32) and plazuelas (0.41) is 0.09 (Brown et al 2012; Kohler et al 2018; Strawinska-Zanko et al 2018). At Chunchucmil, individual structure volume Ginis (0.63) are 0.03 greater than plazuela volume Ginis (0.60; Hutson 2016; Thompson et al 2021a).…”

Section: Impacts Of Units Of Analysis: Individual Structure Versus Al...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring inequality: The effect of units of analysis on the Gini coefficient

Thompson,

Chase,

Feinman

2023

Ancient Mesoam

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To variable degrees, inequality is present in all human societies, but how archaeologists measure inequality varies greatly. In recent research, we used the same unit of analysis, house size, to evaluate residential wealth inequality among the Classic (a.d. 250/300–800) Maya of southern Belize. Using a Gini coefficient, we found that even in this peripheral region, high degrees of inequality were present. However, nuances in inequality metrics vary based on the analytical parameters or units of measurement (area versus volume) and the unit of analysis (individual residential structures, all structures within a household group, or the entire household group, including the built environment). Generally, Gini coefficients calculated from volume are greater than those from area, and the unit of analysis affects the Gini coefficient and, thus, our interpretations of the degree of inequality present. We discuss the impact of the unit of analysis for house sizes, and how it affects our interpretations of residential wealth inequality in the past in conjunction with previous archaeological research. The findings are instrumental for comparative analyses of wealth inequality through the study of house size variation in ancient and modern societies, highlighting the value of clear definitions of the unit of analysis.

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Deep Inequality:

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

Inequality, urbanism, and governance at Coba and the Northern Maya Lowlands

Measuring inequality: The effect of units of analysis on the Gini coefficient

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