Among social mammals, higher-ranking individuals have advantages in reproducing and in ensuring the survival of their offspring. In these species, the tendency to compete for status is therefore likely to have been selected for during millions of years of evolution, and now to be innate. Humans are social mammals, and it would be surprising if we, or many of us, had not also inherited a desire to rise up hierarchies, whether of power, or wealth, or social status. If we have, it will not be nearly as easy as Marx thought to bring the conflicting interests of human beings into harmony.
