Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Rousseau argues that human inequality began with the institution of property, but before one person could declare something exclusively theirs, humanity needed to develop ideas that prepared them to leave their natural state. Human beings began by responding to the dictates of nature, but over time different peoples would encounter nature in profoundly different ways as they spread over the globe. Some would live in cold regions, others in the tropics. Some would live near water and learn to fish others could traverse mountains and eventually would have learned to manipulate fire. As people became more skilled in dealing with the challenges of their environment, some would eventually become aware that they were better at those skills than others and would feel the first stirrings of pride. At this point, they would be able to draw a distinction between their interest and the good of the whole, based on an assessment of what they can achieve through skills versus what they need from the group. Rousseau notes that in the matter of hunting a deer, the individual will still need the group, but if a hare runs along, they might choose to catch it for themselves.

Inequality at first developed very slowly, but each new milestone increased the pace of development. At some point, they would figure out how to make shelter, causing fights over the most favorable spots and best building materials. Those who lost the fight would settle for property of lesser quality, and so from its earliest days, the institution of property served to rank people. The establishment of property also led to the creation of the family, establishing greater differences between the sexes and strengthening the affection between parents and children. Fixed habitation made life so much easier that people were free to develop more luxuries and conveniences, on which they became dependent for their happiness. Repeated contact with the same people engendered deeper feelings of companionship among them, and so they came to develop more sophisticated language and form settlements based on shared kinship and customs.

The establishment of communities marks the decisive turn in humanity’s alienation from its natural condition. The more people came to know others they constantly found new ways of comparing themselves. Even leisurely activities like singing and dancing spawned cycles of pride and resentment. As people developed a stronger sense of themselves, they came to think of both material possessions and abstract qualities like beauty as belonging to them and would lash out at anyone they perceived to diminish them. However, people were still fairly primitive, possessing a vague sense of right and wrong but with individuals reserving to themselves the right of interpretation and execution. Rousseau, somewhat surprisingly, refers to this period as the “happiest and most durable epoch” of the human condition, the “veritable prime of the world” after which all progress was actually degenerative (151).

The human race could have remained perpetually satisfied in its modest advantages over nature, but that golden age ended with the discovery of iron. Rousseau surmises, admittedly with no evidence, that a volcano must have erupted and left iron deposits, but he does not know how primitive humans could have made any use of it. In any case, the discovery of iron prompted the growth of industry, which in turn required a larger food supply to sustain an increasing workforce. Agriculture also strengthened the norm of possession by adding the factor of labor: what someone had worked for was properly theirs, and so the idea of justice took shape. Courts of law then emerged to protect the owners of property.

Industry and agriculture accelerated inequalities as some proved more adept than others and as people came to realize how important it was to possess certain skills to thrive in society. Anyone who lacked a skill found ways to pretend, and this created the distinction between reality and appearance. Before long, everyone was lying to everyone else because everyone was dependent on others: the poor needed wages, and the rich needed laborers. An economy developed, and wealth and poverty became institutionalized across generations. The rich were oppressive in securing their privileges and the poor succumbed either to servitude or thievery to bolster their meager station. Such a condition was unsustainable as it resulted in outbursts of violence and disorder, disrupting the foundations of the economic system on which both rich and poor depended. At this point, someone called for the formation of a political society to unite the energies of different factions toward a common benefit. Rousseau imagines that this appeal was highly persuasive, and people accepted it happily, without realizing that in doing so they were submitting themselves to permanent servitude.