The Nature of Privilege: Intergenerational Wealth in Animal Societies

Abstract

Rampant structural inequality exists across human societies, exerting a powerful influence on the health of individuals around the globe. Differential access to – and variation in – material wealth contributes greatly to this imbalance. Intergenerational transfer of material wealth can advantage some individuals over less fortunate individuals, shaping divergent destinies and creating a hierarchy of privilege. This concept is familiar within the context of human economic and social systems, but we argue that privilege is not a uniquely human phenomenon. Rather, privilege has evolved multiple times and its phylogenetic reach may be startlingly widespread across the Tree of Life, raising the provocative possibility that comparative study of privilege may offer insights leading to effective strategies countering inequality in human societies.

The ecology of wealth inequality in animal societies

“…These same three aspects—material, relational and embodied wealth—are key elements of animal societies and map clearly onto established concepts in ecology and evolution, such as constructed/defended niches, social niches and phenotypic traits. Material wealth currencies include defendable resources such as food items, nest sites and territories, as well as ‘constructed’ resources such as food caches, shelters and nest decorations [15,16]. For instance, material wealth is prominent in acorn woodpeckers ( Melanerpes formicivorus ), which invest heavily both in granary construction (the work of generations of woodpeckers) and in the collection and storage of acorns within the granary [24].…”

“…Existing biological concepts also describe the transmission of wealth across generations via mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic inheritance, ecological inheritance [45] and social inheritance [46]. Intergenerational transmission of wealth may affect ‘privilege’ as a source of inequality in animal societies [16]. Exploring evolutionary themes such as niche construction and social inheritance from the lens of wealth inequality could provide clarity to debates on how to integrate these dynamics in evolutionary theory [47,48].…”

“…Although drivers of inequality may differ among species or wealth aspects, some hypothesized causes of inequality are expected to operate across contexts. For example, the social transfer of wealth is one hypothesized driver of inequality that is likely to operate widely [3,4,16]. In a broad survey of human societies with diverse production systems, the increased fidelity of intergenerational transmission of wealth was associated with more extreme inequality [4,22].…”

“…In a broad survey of human societies with diverse production systems, the increased fidelity of intergenerational transmission of wealth was associated with more extreme inequality [4,22]. In non-human animals, social inheritance of territory [100,101], knowledge [102,103], social relationships [46] and food caches [24] could provide ample contexts in which to test this hypothesis in diverse systems [16]. For instance, the social inheritance of dominance status in spotted hyenas and Old-World primates may drive inequality in dominance among lineages [29].…”

“…Notable exceptions are work on privatization and property by Strassman & Queller [15] and intergenerational wealth transfer by Smith et al . [16]. In this paper, we expand on this prior work to provide a more overarching review of the concepts of wealth and inequality in animal societies, and explore how wealth inequality can be a source of social selection [17–19].…”