Envy’s hidden hand: why inequality bothers people more than poverty

Ju/’hoansi ‘Bushmen’ of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia are the best-documented hunting and gathering community on the planet, and there is a wealth of knowledge to be derived from their ways. James Suzman, writing in Aeon magazine, explains how envy, a trait regarded as selfish and sinful in much of the rest of the world, plays a constructive role in creating the truly egalitarian society of the Ju/‘hoansi.