[ExI] FLDS side topic--monogamy

[hkhenson]

Re the discussions of polygamy (which is the cultural norm for the 
considerable majority of cultures) there is a question as to the 
origin of monogamy.

The only place I have seen this discussed in EP terms is Robert 
Wright's book, _Moral Animal_, but he only talks about which sex on 
average does better under polygamy or monogamy.  (In his opinion 
females make out better under polygamy--in conditions where males 
vary widely in quality.)

Monogamy as a cultural element seems to be associated with a long 
history of temperate/northern zone settled farming in Europe and 
China.  It is a meme, like all elements of culture.  Memes are 
subject to both direct selection and host selection.  I.e., a meme 
such as the Shaker religion (which forbid sex entirely) may be 
initially successful but will eventually die out due to its negative 
effects on host reproduction.

Since virtually all tropical societies did not have the monogamy meme 
and seasonal farming societies did, the question is why the monogamy 
meme would have improved host reproductive success or (same thing) 
why polygamy would have decreased reproductive success in the regions 
(and the farming technology) in which it emerged.

It isn't just agriculture because shifting agriculture groups such as 
the Yanomano are polygamous.  It isn't just Northern because Azar 
Gat's papers discuss polygamy among the Eskimo.  Page 12 here: 
http://cniss.wustl.edu/workshoppapers/gatpres1.pdf

Gregory Clark 
http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Capitalism%20Genes.pdf 
argues that the environment of stable agrarian societies selected 
culture and the people's genes.  Clark's argument is that a different 
set of personality traits from those useful in tribal societies were selected.

Now there might be genes for monogamy that were selected as well, but 
that seems dubious to me.  So why would the cultural practice of 
monogamy have taken over?  True, polygamy was never possible for more 
than a minority of men, but why did it fall completely out of favor 
among some societies?

Any ideas?  Know of any history of monogamy books that discuss how it 
came to pass and what groups were involved?

BTW, what the FLDS is doing is genetic replication, but not at 
maximum efficiency.  I would really like to know what the lifetime 
production of children is per woman to get a comparison with the 
Hutterites who manage about 9 or so and are the standard by which 
birth limitations are measured in other cultures.

Dumping the boys is not as efficient in gene replication terms as 
marrying them to the girls and working their tails off.

Keith Henson