Yes, the hoe/plough distinction doesn't seem to capture the divide to me either. Apart from anything else, ploughing is typically less land efficient than hoeing because you also need to feed the animals pulling the plough, also China is an example of a high population density -> monogamy society that barely made any use of draught anima…
Yes, the hoe/plough distinction doesn't seem to capture the divide to me either. Apart from anything else, ploughing is typically less land efficient than hoeing because you also need to feed the animals pulling the plough, also China is an example of a high population density -> monogamy society that barely made any use of draught animals.
You'd expect the same dynamics of difficulty for the male in providing for wives/children -> monogamy to occur among hunter-gathers that rely on hunting over gathering. Wikipedia says the Inuit practice "female infanticide [at rates] ranging from 15 to 50% to 80%."
Also, it's not a polite observation to make, but purely as a matter of academic interest, monogamous societies should also select for women that are more attractive visually, which seems like it might have taken place.
Monogamous societies that allows as many females as males to grow up select more for all possible properties on the female side, including visual attractiveness. The amount of selection pressure on the male and female sides (among adults) should differ enormously between empty polygynoys societies and crowded monogamous societies (at least those that do not practice infanticide). In empty polygynous societies, all women who manage to survive until adulthood breed to their maximum. In crowded monogamous societies, more or less the same share of males and females breed, and their breeding success mostly depends on the same economic factors. The implications of all this on the female side of evolution should be huge.
Yes, the hoe/plough distinction doesn't seem to capture the divide to me either. Apart from anything else, ploughing is typically less land efficient than hoeing because you also need to feed the animals pulling the plough, also China is an example of a high population density -> monogamy society that barely made any use of draught animals.
You'd expect the same dynamics of difficulty for the male in providing for wives/children -> monogamy to occur among hunter-gathers that rely on hunting over gathering. Wikipedia says the Inuit practice "female infanticide [at rates] ranging from 15 to 50% to 80%."
Also, it's not a polite observation to make, but purely as a matter of academic interest, monogamous societies should also select for women that are more attractive visually, which seems like it might have taken place.
Monogamous societies that allows as many females as males to grow up select more for all possible properties on the female side, including visual attractiveness. The amount of selection pressure on the male and female sides (among adults) should differ enormously between empty polygynoys societies and crowded monogamous societies (at least those that do not practice infanticide). In empty polygynous societies, all women who manage to survive until adulthood breed to their maximum. In crowded monogamous societies, more or less the same share of males and females breed, and their breeding success mostly depends on the same economic factors. The implications of all this on the female side of evolution should be huge.