Beyond egalitarian societies: Egalitarianism as a human universal

Abstract In the Target Article, we argued that “egalitarian societies” are real, but that outcome-oriented, society-level taxonomies have caused confusion and disagreement. After showing that inequalities exist in even the most egalitarian societies, we called for greater research emphasis on processes underlying egalitarianism under a range of ecological/economic conditions. Thirty commentaries discuss, extend or, in several cases, query elements of our thesis. In this response, we address each commentary in turn, focussing on four unifying themes: (1) gendered inequalities; (2) outcome vs process; (3) cultural norms and enculturation; and (4) the psychology of egalitarianism. We finish by reiterating our call to shift focus beyond outcome-oriented society-level taxonomies. In synthesising insights from a range of commentaries, we show that the motives and processes underlying egalitarianism in smaller-scale societies have far-reaching relevance to the study of political psychology and political organisation in all human societies, including contemporary nation-states.