A new review challenges the long-held view that traditional hunter-gatherer groups operate on pure altruism and equality. Researchers argue that what seems like egalitarian sharing often stems from self-interest and a desire for autonomy. This perspective draws on anthropological evidence from various cultures.
Anthropologists have long portrayed hunter-gatherer societies as models of equality, where resources like hunted meat are shared generously among group members. However, a recent review by Chris von Rueden at the University of Richmond, Virginia, and Duncan Stibbard Hawkes at Durham University, UK, published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, disputes this cliché.
"There’s no society where there’s true equality," von Rueden states. The researchers examined ethnographic data and found that equal wealth distribution often masks practical motivations rather than an innate drive for fairness. For instance, 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Engels drew on reports of such societies to support Marxist ideas of human altruism as the default state.
In reality, sharing can be self-serving. Hunters may distribute meat to avoid persistent demands from others, as documented in forager groups. Among the !Kung communities in Angola, Botswana, and Namibia, about 34 percent of daytime conversations involve complaints about stinginess.
Equality may also arise from protecting individual autonomy. The Mbendjele people in the Republic of the Congo use a process called mosambo to publicly address rights violations and resist coercion. "People don’t like bullying. They don’t like coercion. They don’t like ‘big men’," notes Manvir Singh, an anthropologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study.
Hierarchies persist subtly, with status granted to those showing humility and cooperation, as seen among the Tsimané in Bolivia. Jerome Lewis, an anthropologist at University College London, praises the review as an "important contribution" highlighting the diversity of egalitarianism. He critiques Engels’s "noble savage" image as outdated and biased, emphasizing that these societies, some persisting for over 50,000 years, offer alternative models for social organization compared to high-income nations.