Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
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Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#2> In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage.
Wouldn't that just be any culture that has a significantly offset male-female ratio?
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#3> In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage. Wouldn't that just be any culture that has a significantly offset male-female ratio?
In a specific cohort lets say age 18-35 - is the only thing that matters for this study "access" to women not how many women a man can married?
Wonder what the polygamy male-female ratio is compared to current societies with skewed ratios (CN / IN)?
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#4How do we know which one is the cause and which one is the effect? Or that it's not just yet another case of correlation mistaken for causation? Do more intense levels of gender inequality lead to polygamous marriage, or does polygamous marriage lead to more intense levels of gender inequality?
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#5How do we know which one is the cause and which one is the effect? Or that it's not just yet another case of correlation mistaken for causation? Do more intense levels of gender inequality lead to polygamous marriage, or does polygamous marriage lead to more intense levels of gender inequality?
Or neither, because both are results of an underlying cause?
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#6Would the authors venture to make a prediction on what will happen as the US moves away from monogamy?
Edit: I'm not talking about moving towards poligamy. I'm talking about moving away from monogamous marriage in general.
To quote from the article: According to Henrich, monogamy’s main cultural evolutionary advantage over polygyny is the more egalitarian distribution of women, which reduces male competition and social problems.
It seems obvious to me that this not a specific disadvantage of polygyny, but a specific advantage of monogamy. The state of nature, without marriage, also ought to produce a less "egalitarian distribution of women".
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#7Would the authors venture to make a prediction on what will happen as the US moves away from monogamy? Edit: I'm not talking about moving towards poligamy. I'm talking about moving away from monogamous marriage in general. To quote from the article: According to Henrich, monogamy’s main cultural evolutionary advantage over polygyny is the more egalitarian distribution of women, which reduces male competition and soci…
Is the U.S. moving away from monogamy?
I'm not against polygamy or polyandry, but I don't see a trend in the near term.
On the other hand, we've long had a tradition of traditional married couples where the man keeps a mistress on the side, usually in secret (though secrets don't tend to last very long).
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#8> In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage. Wouldn't that just be any culture that has a significantly offset male-female ratio?
In a specific cohort lets say age 18-35 - is the only thing that matters for this study "access" to women not how many women a man can married? Wonder what the polygamy male-female ratio is compared to current societies with skewed ratios (CN / IN)?
By "access" are you just referring to prostitution?
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#9> In cultures that permit men to take multiple wives, the intra-sexual competition that occurs causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality than in societies that institutionalize and practice monogamous marriage. Wouldn't that just be any culture that has a significantly offset male-female ratio?
My question would be, does this behavior hold up regardless of the culture's average income level? Surely some of the cultures are doing this because the poverty level is great.
sarcasm, polygamy and monogamy have the same major social problem, one spouse too many.
Re: Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures (2012)
#10How do we know which one is the cause and which one is the effect? Or that it's not just yet another case of correlation mistaken for causation? Do more intense levels of gender inequality lead to polygamous marriage, or does polygamous marriage lead to more intense levels of gender inequality?
It has nothing to do with gender equality. It has to do with economic inequality between males.
Economic inequality between males means more and more women are competing for a smaller supply of wealthy males.
Increased demand for top males leads to gender inequality as more and more women compete for a smaller pool of rich men, reducing the bargaining power of every individual woman and increasing the bargaining power of the few males who are marriage material.
Increased demand for top males leads to polygamy and other polygamous arrangements such as mistresses.