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9 - Costs of Polygyny

from Part II - Applications to Health, Law, and Pornography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Todd K. Shackelford
Affiliation:
Oakland University, Michigan
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Summary

Polygyny is common around the world both historically as well as contemporaneously. The evolutionary goals supporting and incentivizing the practice, particularly for men, are clear.However, polygyny does not come without serious economic, social, and political costs for both men and women in the current environment.Like the innate taste for sweetness, polygyny constitutes a case where past drives and goals do not map on well to current environmental circumstances.This chapter begins with some definitional and theoretical issues followed by a discussion of some of the economic, health, and political costs associated with polygyny.Results from recent experimental work on cross-cultural attitudes toward polygyny, involving populations that are nationally representative by sex and by religion,are presented. The chapter concludes with discussion of the some of the theoretical and policy implications resulting from these costs.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Costs of Polygyny
  • Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943581.012
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  • Costs of Polygyny
  • Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943581.012
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Costs of Polygyny
  • Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943581.012
Available formats
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