8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Power and reproduction., June 17, 2003
This review is from: Despotism and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of History (Hardcover)
This is without a shadow of a doubt a very important book, based on massive field research.
As prof. Betzig states: this is a book about how things really are: the end of human life is its reproduction, and positions of strength are exploited to this end. Power (bluntly, the ability to kill subjects for trivial or no cause) is essential in the resolution of conflicts of interest to the advantage of those who hold power.
This work demonstrates profusely that self-interest and its corroborations (nepotism, corruption ...) reign mightily in all societies. It answers most clearly why power corrupts. It explains the near universality of despotic governments in hierarchal societies, but also why this kind of government still exists (open and bare, or hidden) everywhere in the world today.
This book has some very important victims: J.J. Rousseau (general will) and Hegel (the moral law) are plainly brushed off: 'law' is not a product of a social contract or of the State, but 'rights and obligations coincide with relative status'. The powerful dictate(d) the laws.
A third victim is Marx with his emphasis on production and not reproduction, and his prescription of a socialist(!) revolution.
Another victim is G. Becker (partly): the family is not fundamentally an economic unit, because men are essentially concerned with the fidelity of their wives.
Why did, for prof. Betzig, the situation become less despotic in modern states? Because people in power have been forced to make concessions to attract mercenaries, craftsmen, defense specialists ... But these people are still used directly or indirectly to contribute to the reproductive efforts of men in power.
This is a formidable modern book. As the author bluntly states: one must first comprehend the basics, before one can implement measures for change.
This small book shows magisterially the depth and enormous power of the Darwinian thought.
An essential read.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a slim, hard hitting classic., March 14, 2008
This review is from: Despotism and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of History (Hardcover)
Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, the second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty, is said to have fathered 888 children.
Not so surprising is it. Powerful men through out human history have had access to many nubile females, and they have used this access to reproduce like lemmings.
Julius Caesar was insatiable in his lust, Alexander took many wives, Charlemagne had at least four, and god knows how many concubines.
But why?
According to Betzig, men attempt to gain status and resources to collect women. To do this they wield despotic power. Despotism allows the males on the top of society to dominate those on the bottom. With this domination comes resource inequalities. Since women prefer men with resources, guess who gets the most fertile women?
The same logic applies, mutatis mutandis, to famous athletes and musicians today.
Betzig's argument is a gust of fresh air. Most sociologists focus on class inequality, power, and other such variables, while ignoring the ultimate causes of inequality.
And what, prey tell, is the ultimate underlying logic?
Simple: Pass on the genes. The Darwinian imperative is to pass our genes on. The more genes you pass on, the better. It is as simple as that. All of us had ancestors who passed their genes on. In fact, 1/8th of all Asian men can trace their ancestry back to Ghengis Kahn!!
All of the males who failed to gain status, failed to find reproductively valuable mates. Therefore, most of us (men) have inherited strong tendencies to covet status and power, while being motivated by an inherent, incorrigible ambition. We want to compete; we want to win; we want to be on top of the hierarchy.
Thus, human males have inherited dispositions to seek status and power, and to translate the power they achieve into sexual oppurtunities.
This leads to political despotism.
The logic is air tight, and the facts Betzig presents are undeniable. Why, then, do so many people continue to ignore them?
I am not sure. Perhaps it feels better to talk about arcane topics like "modes of production" and "dialectical materialism." Perhaps the losers in life's mating game are resentful of the truth, therefore wishing to supress it.
Most academics were dorks in high-school. Maybe a soupcon of resentment toward jocks and preps carries over. This is, of course, rank speculation. What I am sure of is this: Jude Law has more access to nubile women than I do and this has nothing to do with "dialectical materialism."
One last question arises from Betzig's book: Why monogamy? If males use their status and power to mate with multiple females, why would monogamy arise? This is a question that has many proposed answers.
Some think it has to do with the leveling off of male resources, others that it is a compromise the upper-crust make to other males in order to co-opt their needed skills. Whatever the answer, it is clear that, although we have a monogamous social system, many males mate polygynously to this day. If given the opportunity to rule over a harem of attractive virgins, I doubt any males would decline.
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