Lecture II: Reconsidering Rousseau's Second Discourse in Light of Contemporary Social Science

Rousseau claimed that esteem competition is the central dynamic driving the creation of social hierarchy. Rousseau’s narrative of our step-by-step descent from perfect equality in the state of nature to a domination contract leading to despotism highlights several necessary conditions for social hierarchy. Contemporary social science supplies surprising evidence for the general structure of Rousseau’s view. We can learn how to stop or reverse the descent into despotism by (re)structuring the economy of esteem in accordance with principles found in relatively egalitarian societies. Yet perverse ideologies activate our cognitive biases and fool us into accepting economies of esteem that lead to hierarchies of unequal standing and power. Ideologies are central sites for the stabilization of both domination contracts and egalitarian social contracts.