The Inequality Matrix
A Genealogy of Wealth
2018
Differentiated Deservedness is embedded in social policies, the inequalities generated by capitalist logic are not alleviated but deepened by state policies.
Teo You Yenn (2018)
PHILOSOPHY
According to 18th-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, inequality exists in two forms: physical and moral. Physical inequality refers to the inherent differences we are born with—our height, strength, gender, and other natural variations. Moral inequality, on the other hand, arises only within civil society. It is constructed by humans and institutionalized through laws, governance, and property rights. This kind of inequality is artificial, yet validated by society through systems of enforcement and rule.
In Rousseau’s view, the modern man has become enslaved not just to his basic needs—air, water, food, shelter—but to manufactured desires and societal expectations. He no longer acts with authenticity toward his fellow citizens. Instead, caught in the web of moral inequality, he navigates institutions while constantly trying to outperform, deceive, or dominate others. These systems—created by Man himself—legitimize hierarchies of power and wealth, transforming inequality into a visible performance, often displayed through property ownership and enshrined in physical space.
From the moment early humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to agrarian settlements, institutions of money, law, and politics began to govern human behavior. These structures produced artificial inequalities, which have since compounded and deepened natural ones. This intertwining of physical and moral inequality is crucial to understanding how inequality takes form—through time, space, and architecture.
So then, how did inequality come about?
REVOLUTIONS
Inequality Matrix
Tracking the genealogy of wealth
The neoliberal capitalist market we know today is relatively recent. If we trace its origins, much of the literature points to just 200–300 years ago—a brief moment in the broader span of human history. Its emergence aligns with the era of industrial revolutions, during which new technologies not only enhanced productivity but also transformed economies, systems of governance, and the ways people lived together. These changes laid the groundwork for structural inequalities, embedded in both physical and institutional spaces.
The birth of capitalism can be traced to the First Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, marked by the invention of steam power. Prior to this, craftsmen owned their tools and organized into guilds to protect their trade. Steam-powered machinery changed everything. To reap economies of scale, manufacturers began assembling large workforces under one roof—giving rise to the factory system. Small craftsmen lost access to their tools and were transformed into wage laborers, working for a new class of owners: the capitalists. This shift—concentration of capital and control of production—defined the growing class divide of the 19th century.
The Second Industrial Revolution saw the discovery of oil, replacing steam as the dominant energy source. Innovations like electricity, light bulbs, the telephone, and the car radically changed work and leisure. Cities became illuminated, workers labored longer hours, and mass production flourished. Henry Ford’s assembly line made cars more accessible, redefining mobility. These massive infrastructure and energy projects required vast funding, which catalyzed the growth of modern financial systems, including the New York Stock Exchange—originally fueled by railway investment. Finance and industry became deeply intertwined, turning New York into a global financial center.
The Third Industrial Revolution introduced renewables such as solar and wind—though oil remained dominant, shaping industries from transportation to global logistics. Air travel made cross-border mobility seamless. With the rise of mobile phones and the internet, information flowed instantly, reshaping economies and social behavior. Urban sprawl became a hallmark of modern life: cars enabled families to move farther from city centers in search of cheaper housing, spawning suburban retail strips and malls. This shift, however, was not simply about lifestyle—it reflected the rising cost of living and property speculation in urban cores.
These spatial reorganizations were fueled by the neoliberal policies of Thatcherism and Reaganism, which emphasized free markets, deregulation, and privatization. In doing so, they reshaped labor relations, privileging capital over labor and deepening inequality. Today, we live with the long shadow of these reforms: wealth has become power, and the structures that once promised opportunity now reinforce the divide between classes.
Power plays out across the lines of class.
And the spaces we build—cities, homes, workplaces—become the physical expressions of that power.
INTEGRATION
Capital versus Wages
Semantic Structure of Inequality
Across the industrial revolutions, the production of goods became increasingly streamlined, efficient, and productive. As globalization advanced, the flow of goods and services—essential to meeting the expanding needs of the modern man—became more fluid and interconnected. By the time products reached consumption centers, they had passed through layers of middlemen, bureaucracies, and cost additions—shipping, marketing, design, and more. Over time, the key to sustaining and profiting from this complexity was consolidating control over the entire value chain.
During the Second Industrial Revolution, John D. Rockefeller exemplified this with the founding of Standard Oil in 1868. He acquired oil wells, refineries, and negotiated exclusive rail deals to prioritize his shipments. Later, with the rise of automobiles, he established the first gasoline stations, creating a vertically integrated model that linked extraction, refining, and distribution—from wellhead to end user. This model soon spread to other sectors, especially as communication technologies like the telegraph and telephone accelerated the coordination of these systems.
Across all three industrial revolutions, a recurring matrix of energy, communication, and transportation can be observed. These three pillars not only fueled economic growth but also reshaped social structures and physical environments—from global supply chains to urban planning, from factory towns to sprawling suburbs.
Inequality follows these structures.
As the matrix evolved, so too did the hierarchies embedded within it—who controls the flow, who profits from it, and who is displaced or marginalized by it.
OWNERSHIP
Inequality and Class
Class divide, segregation, stratification
He who controls production, controls consumption.
Revisiting Rockefeller’s hegemony over oil, by 1910 he had amassed such dominance that the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the breakup of Standard Oil into smaller entities. Yet even post-breakup, by 1930, these entities collectively controlled two-thirds of the industry’s capital, 60% of drilling, 90% of pipelines, 70% of refining, and 80% of marketing. Today, the legacy lives on through conglomerates like ExxonMobil and BP, funded by the world’s largest investment banks—JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup—which together account for 60% of global investment banking.
Whether we like it or not, these vertically integrated corporate giants became the most efficient way to organize the production and distribution of mass goods. By centralizing supply chains, production, and logistics, they slashed transaction costs, increased productivity, and lowered marginal costs—ultimately reducing prices and expanding access for consumers. The economy thrived, and millions benefited in material ways.
But efficiency came at a cost.
At the top of this pyramid, owners and investors enjoyed exponential returns. Meanwhile, the vast base of wage laborers remained tied to a system where meagre wages sustained lifestyles for the few. This vertical structure entrenched a hierarchy of ownership, deepening the divide between those who own and those who serve. The result: sharpening inequality between the rich and the working class.
This inequality doesn’t exist only in numbers—it’s inscribed in space. Those at either end of the hierarchy negotiate their positions through segregations, exclusions, and enclosures in the built environment. These boundaries are not just physical; they’re psychological—reinforcing feelings of superiority, inferiority, entitlement, or resentment.
This is what inequality looks like.
NOW
Let China sleep. For when she wakes, she will shake the world.
Napoleon Bonaparte
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Wall as Divider
Niches of Spaces made
Asia is rising.
But unlike the West, we are undergoing these revolutions faster, in shorter cycles, and often simultaneously. As Asia accelerates, it also becomes more interconnected with global systems—economies, finance, digital networks. Yet in catching up, we also begin to absorb and replicate the inefficiencies and inequalities embedded in these systems.
Singapore, for instance, saw the potential early. Since independence, it has strategically built the infrastructure to plug into global flows of goods, services, people, and information. In his 1978 speech Singapore: A Global City, S. Rajaratnam highlighted how Singapore’s future was tied to global trends—petrochemicals, finance, trade, port logistics, semiconductors. We were not an isolated city-state, but a crucial node in a vast, vertically integrated global structure.
To serve this role, Singapore invested in world-class ports and airports, a strong education system, and a robust financial sector. These are not just national assets—they are gears in a global machine. Resources flow into this little red dot, are processed, redistributed, and shipped back out—connecting global production with global consumption.
This is where production meets consumption.
And where, inevitably, the structures of inequality converge too.
MARKETPLACE
History of Retail Form
Marketplace Evolution
The marketplace has long been where production meets consumption—where goods become commodities, and consumers complete the economic cycle. It has historically served as the center of commerce and exchange, from the Silk Road that connected China and Europe, to maritime routes linking the Far East with Great Britain. At these nodal points, people gathered not just to trade goods and services, but also to exchange ideas, culture, and values. From Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar to Burlington Arcade in London, the marketplace has always been a palace of consumption.
It is also where the energy/communication/transportation matrix converges. Marketplaces are often the first to adopt technological innovations—to attract customers and enhance comfort. Early shopping arcades were among the first to introduce light bulbs, indoor plumbing, air-conditioning, and eventually, innovations in steel construction allowed for larger spans and even grander retail spaces.
By 1869, Paris welcomed the first department store, Le Bon Marché. It revolutionized the consumer experience with fixed pricing, advertising, and curated displays of exotic merchandise. This model of spectacle, strategy, and abundance spread quickly. Over time, department stores merged with shopping arcades, evolving into the modern shopping center. By the 1960s, as the suburbs expanded in America, shopping malls became the new everyday consumption hubs, collectively managed by owners and firms, backed by sophisticated financing models.
These transformations show how technological, spatial, and managerial innovations shaped the way we shop. The retailscape was never just about selling—it was a carefully curated and controlled environment, designed for comfort, spectacle, and spending.
So, how are the retailscapes of today managed?
And more importantly, who gets to decide what—and whom—belongs in them?
FUTURE
We now live in the Anthropocene—an era defined by the actions of Man.
Our interventions shape not just our cities and economies, but the climate, ecosystems, and very conditions of life. We are consuming the Earth’s resources at an unprecedented rate. The next Hurricane Katrina will be man-made. The next flood, a consequence of human decisions.
In the same way, economic inequality is not natural—it is constructed. It is cast in-situ, embedded in the systems of governance, law, and market economics. Capitalism may have engineered inequality, but even the policies meant to address it often reinforce it—sorting populations into neat categories of rich, middle, and poor. These labels, institutionalized, begin to shape not only social identity, but also where we live, how we move, and what we consume.
The effects are felt daily—in rent, wages, school zones, and access to air, green space, and silence. People negotiate their place in this hierarchy constantly, navigating the invisible but ever-present lines of class divide.
So, what future are we building—and for whom?
References
Who I quoted
Rifkin, Jeremy. 2015. The Zero Marginal Cost Society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.