A short assessment of social inequality through evolutionary lenses: Re-examining Marx and Weber (and Darwin as well)

Abstract

This paper intends to provide a short assessment on how Marx and Weber approached social inequality. The assessment is conducted using evolutionary rationality. Even though Marx and Weber had seemingly contrasting approaches, I argue that in reality both are complementary and can be better understood using Darwinian evolutionary theory or "Universal Darwinism" as the locus in which the two rationalities described formation processes based on competition for the survival of social forces and the crafting of adaptive and advantageous strategies that allow for the synchronic and diachronic reproduction of social groups.