The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions

by Jason Hickel

But archaeological records show that people in the forager-farmer communities that lived outside these early states were a good deal better off, with life expectancies around 50 per cent longer.1 They were healthier, stronger, taller and better nourished than their more ‘civilised’ counterparts in South America – and, indeed, in Europe.2 They were less likely to die of famine for they had a much more diverse food system: they grew some of their food and foraged for the rest. They worked far fewer hours and the work was lighter. There were no powerful aristocrats or landlords around to force them to work, or to skim their yields for profit. And they were less exposed to the diseases that plagued densely populated societies.

A la against the grain