By applying a broad historical overview, this chapter traces the process of how human the propensity for cooperation has been co-opted by coercive surplus arrangements. Early societies actively maintained equality through specific practices, while delayed-return systems enabled new forms of hierarchy and control. The emergence of institutionalized collective action in medieval guilds and commons offered needs prioritizing organizational models before being undermined by enclosure and industrialization. Contemporary systems have developed powerful lock-in mechanisms through energy systems, technologies, and financial structures that constrain autonomy and violate ecological boundaries. This historical perspective demonstrates that unsustainability is not inevitable but the product of specific social arrangements that can be challenged through different models of collective action.