What does the Law of the Jungle say about Human Nature?

There's a phrase we all know: "the Law of the Jungle." It conjures images of a brutal, competitive world where might makes right, and where the strong dominate the weak. It reflects a widely shared view: at our core, humans are naturally inclined toward hierarchy and domination by the powerful. However, anthropological studies show that the opposite might be true. When we look at the small-scale societies from hunter-gatherer bands to tribal communities, which were our ancestors' way of life for hundreds of thousands of years, we don't find strong leaders lording over everyone else. Instead, the rank and file of the community form a coalition that collectively dominates their leaders, keeping them in check and preventing them from obtaining coercive power. Anthropologist Christopher Boehm gives this specific social organization a name: Reverse Dominance Hierarchy. In today's video, we are going to look at Boehm's cross-cultural survey and see how the real law of the jungle works, and what it means for our understanding of human nature. Reference: Boehm, C. (1993). Egalitarian behavior and reverse dominance hierarchy. Current Anthropology, 34(3), 227–254.