Cailin O’Connor: University of California Irvine

Why do some groups get more and others less? And why is this sort of pattern so pervasive across human cultures? In this talk, I’ll discuss cultural evolutionary modeling work that address these questions. In particular, I look at the dynamics of bargaining and coordination in cultural evolution when groups are divided into social categories such as gender and race. These models make clear why inequity is so common, and also suggest an approach towards improving equity.