Book 5: Chapter 1, Constitutional Change & Overthrow Summary and Analysis

In this chapter Aristotle explores and explains more about what events may cause a state's constitutions to change. He also delineates what the effects of such alterations may be. He also explains how it is is that political factions develop within a state as well as how to remedy this.

Initially he is challenged to address questions of equality and inequality within a given society. He tells readers that the difficulty with many believers in democracies is that they mistakenly assume equality in one area indicates universal equality. He contrasts this to oligarchic systems with their belief that inequalities of wealth are indicative of universal inequalities, such as "The rich are better than the middle classes and poor in every way.'" Aristotle explains that this does not actually follow from, "The rich...