Slashdot Mirror


The Link Between Polygamy and War (economist.com)

Is there a link between polygamy and war? The Economist explores (might be paywalled): Men in South Sudan typically marry as often as their wealth -- often measured in cattle -- will allow. Perhaps 40 percent of marriages are polygamous. "In [our] culture, the more family you have, the more people respect you," says William, a young IT specialist in search of his second wife. Few South Sudanese see the connection between these matrimonial customs and the country's horrific civil war. If you ask them the reason for the violence, locals will blame tribalism, greedy politicians, weak institutions and perhaps the oil wealth which gives warlords something to fight over. All true, but not the whole story. Wherever it is widely practised, polygamy (specifically polygyny, the taking of multiple wives) destabilises society, largely because it is a form of inequality which creates an urgent distress in the hearts, and loins, of young men. If a rich man has a Lamborghini, that does not mean that a poor man has to walk, for the supply of cars is not fixed. By contrast, every time a rich man takes an extra wife, another poor man must remain single. If the richest and most powerful 10 percent of men have, say, four wives each, the bottom 30 percent of men cannot marry. Young men will take desperate measures to avoid this state. A non-paywalled, syndicated source for the article.

8 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Equal numbers by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 5, Informative

    This assumes there are equal numbers of men and women...

    According to 2016 estimates of the South Sudanese population, the breakdown is about 46% men to 54% women. Hardly a huge imbalance with only about 12 million people.

  2. Re:Equal numbers by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 5, Informative

    To add, using a breakdown of only female to males age 15 and above the breakdown is pretty close to 50/50. So that sort invalidates your whole theory.

    Data comes from: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Da...

  3. Re: Editor, You mixed the links by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Polygamy isn't responsible for violence. The Mormons, weird as they are, are not violent.

    ????? Want to check your facts on that? While that list contains incidents where Mormons were victims as well as perpetrators, they were pretty violent in the early days of the religion. Over the years Mormonism has gotten less violent (and also much less tolerant of polygamy, to the point now where it is no longer openly permitted if I understand correctly). It would be more fair to say that Mormonism has evolved so that it no longer promotes/tolerates violence nor polygamy, just as modern day Christianity mostly does not (barring of course evangelicals who are pushing for wars in the Middle East in order to start the second coming/rapture/Armageddon).

    This is the issue for Islam: there are many within it that are resisting efforts to modernize the religion. If you want to fix things you can't demonize Islam, you have to support those within the religion who want to moderate and modernize Islam. Animosity and hatred only feeds those who seek to keep Islam in the past.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  4. Link to the Islamic slave trade by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Compared to the Atlantic slave trade, which was mostly men for work, the Islamic slave trade was mostly women for sex.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    In contrast to the Atlantic slave trade, where the male-female ratio was 2:1 or 3:1, the Arab slave trade instead usually had a higher female-to-male ratio. This suggests a general preference for female slaves. Concubinage and reproduction served as incentives for importing female slaves (often Caucasian), though many were also imported mainly for performing household tasks.

    In Islam you can have four wives and an unlimited number of sex slaves if you are male.

    It's easy to see that polygamy and the inability of poor men to find a wife and thus legally have sex was a driver for this.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  5. Re: Editor, You mixed the links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Look up the documentary "The lost Boys" on how the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (a Mormson off shoot that practices polygamy) Literally kicks out excess male children. May not be a war, but it is violent and sick regardless, and that is here in the USA.

  6. Re: Editor, You mixed the links by HornWumpus · · Score: 1, Informative

    Was arresting Smith 'violence against Mormons' when he was just a conman? Did it only become 'violence against Mormons' when he became a prophet/conman?

    Was it 'violence against Mormons' when he was tarred feathered and run out of town on a rail for what he said to the 15 year old daughter of the town banker? That was AFTER he started his big religion scam.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  7. Re: Editor, You mixed the links by Penguinisto · · Score: 3, Informative

    What part of the Mormons' involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre was considered to be "defense", do you figure?

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  8. Re:No one identified the real problem by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Informative

    No one identified the real problem. Let's not dance around the issue because we're afraid to tell it like it is. The violence is caused by Islam.

    Too bad South Sudan is predominantly Christian. Islam is such a small minority that it doesn't even make the CIA World Factbook on South Sudan. There are more animists than Muslims.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil