Individuals vary in their access to resources, social connections, and phenotypic traits, and a central goal of behavioral ecology is to understand how this variation influences reproductive success and longevity. Parallel research on human societies has focused on the causes and consequences of variation in material possessions, opportunity, and health among individuals. At the core in both fields of study is that unequal distribution of benefits is an important component of social structure, but an explicit study of inequality is largely missing from evolutionary biology and ecology. Here we advance a research framework and agenda for studying inequality within an ecological and evolutionary context, drawing upon work in the human-oriented literature where applicable. We present four broad arguments for the ecological study of inequality: (1) wealth and inequality are taxonomically broad features of societies, (2) feedback loops link inequality to individual and societal outcomes, (3) very little is known about what makes some societies more unequal than others, and (4) inequality is dynamic, and these dynamics are relevant for social evolution. We hope that this framework will motivate a cohesive interdisciplinary approach to understanding inequality as a widespread and diverse biological phenomenon.
Bankowość alternatywna. Społeczna ewolucja biznesu finansowego – wybrane aspekty ekologiczne / Alternative banking. Social evolution of financial business – selected ecological aspects