The “fierce egalitarianism” of foragers like the Ju/’hoansi was, in other words, the organic outcome of interactions between people acting in their own self-interest in highly individualistic, mobile, small-scale societies with no rulers, no formal laws, and no formal institutions. And this was because in small-scale foraging societies self-interest was always policed by its shadow, jealousy, which, in turn, ensured that everyone got their fair share and individuals moderated their desires based on a sense of fairness.
