Warfare, sex ratio and polygyny

Ethnology • Vol/Iss. 13 • Published In • Pages: 197-206 •
By Ember, Melvin

Abstract

This paper suggests that polygyny may be best explained by uneven sex ratios, particularly an excess of women while men are engaged in warfare. The author also considers Whiting’s 1964 theory that used post-partum sex taboos to explain polygyny. These two theories are tested cross-culturally and results suggest that polygyny is a response to an unbalanced sex ratio in favor of women.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
OtherResearchers Own
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)

Hypotheses (6)

HypothesisSupported
"However, when we control on Whiting's predictor, i.e., presence or absence of a long postpartum sex taboo, a strong relationship between high male mortality and polygyny still obtains, in the presence of both a long and a short postpartum sex taboo" (202)Supported
"In the presence of a short [postpartum sex] taboo, which is the more crucial control situation, . . . [there is a strong] correlation between high male mortality and polygyny" (202)Supported
". . . polygynous . . . [societies] are significantly more likely to have an imbalanced sex ratio in favor of females than the nonpolygynous [societies]" (199)Supported
"[Societies] with a high male loss in warfare are significantly more likely to have an imbalanced sex ratio in favor of females than . . . [societies] with a low or zero male loss in warfare" (201-202)Supported
"A high male mortality in warfare is strongly associated with polygyny" (202)Supported
"There is no significant association between a long postpartum taboo and polygyny in either the high or low male mortality situation . . . when we control for male mortality in warfare" (202)Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas  Amelia Piazza