The evolution of division of labour: preconditions and evolutionary feedback

Division of Labour (DoL) among group members reflects the pinnacle of social complexity. The synergistic effects created by task specialization and the sharing of duties benefitting the group raise the efficiency of the acquisition, use, management and defence of resources by a fundamental step above the potential of individual agents. At the same time, it may stabilize societies because of the involved interdependence among collaborators. Here, I review the conditions associated with the emergence of DoL, which include the existence of (i) sizeable groups with enduring membership; (ii) individual specialization improving the efficiency of task performance; and (iii) low conflict of interest among group members owing to correlated payoffs. This results in (iv) a combination of intra-individual consistency with inter-individual variance in carrying out different tasks, which creates (v) some degree of mutual interdependence among group members. DoL typically evolves ‘bottom-up’ without external regulatory forces, but the latter may gain importance at a later stage of the evolution of social complexity. Owing to the involved feedback processes, cause and effect are often difficult to disentangle in the evolutionary trajectory towards structured societies with well-developed DoL among their members. Nevertheless, the emergence of task specialization and DoL may entail a one-way street towards social complexity, with retrogression getting increasingly difficult the more individual agents depend on each other at progressing stages of social evolution.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Division of labour as key driver of social evolution’.