**A Discourse on Inequality

First published in 1755, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequality asks how human beings, naturally free and largely independent, came to inhabit societies marked by hierarchy, competition and dependence. Written in response to a question posed by the Academy of Dijon, the work traces an imagined history of humanity from its earliest condition in nature to the emergence of property, law and political authority. Rousseau argues that the development of private property marks a decisive turning point, as social institutions transform differences between individuals into enduring inequalities of wealth and power.

Neither a conventional history nor a simple call to return to primitive life, the Discourse is a bold philosophical thought experiment about civilisation and its costs. Its distinction between natural inequality and inequality created by society became central to modern political thought, influencing debates about property, freedom and justice that intensified during the French Revolution and beyond. The work also anticipates Rousseau’s later reflections on political legitimacy, making it essential to understanding his challenge to the assumptions of modern society.

From the book

"The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society."

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on Inequality

On A Discourse on Inequality

“Rousseau’s account of the origins of inequality remains one of the most radical critiques of modern civilisation.”

— Judith Shklar, Men and Citizens: A Study of Rousseau’s Social Theory