Laura Betzig

Despotism and Differential Reproduction

The evidence from well-documented cases is stunning. The Dahomean king, like the Lozi king, took his pick among his subjects' women; a Dahomean subject was in fact to refer to his wives as mothers, as no one had the right to call them wives but the king; altogether, subdivided into four different classes, the Dahomean king is said to have kept to himself 'several thousand' women. The Khmer king kept five wives, one for the palace and another for each of the cardinal points, and 3000 to 5000 'girls of the palace' for his pleasure. In Inca Peru, as probably everywhere, the reproductive hierarchy dramatically paralleled the social hierarchy. Petty chiefs were by law allowed up to seven women; governors of a hundred were given eight women; leaders of a thousand got 15 women; chiefs over a million got 30 women. Kings had access to temples filled with women; no lord had less than 700 at his disposal. Typically, the 'poor Indian' took whatever was left. Very generally, the youngest, often prepubescent, most virginal, and prettiest girls were selected from among those throughout a kingdom to serve their king; they were kept strictly cloistered against the possibility of infidelity; and kings might possibly, again, have increased their production of grandchildren by favoring polygynous sons (see Dickemann, 1979a).

These results, too, are somewhat at odds with alternative theories. Economic theories suggest that men choose to take more than one wife either because women are themselves net economic assets, or because the children they produce are. Either of these conditions would, of course, make it cheaper for a man to collect a harem. But, neither explains why men should be concerned with the fidelity of their wives, often preferring prepubescent virgins and subjecting them to strict claustration. In fact, if the end of marriage is the production of economically helpful children, assistance on the part of other men in their production, especially in a huge harem which one man might find it difficult to service alone, should be actively sought out. If the end of marriage is the acquisition of economically helpful women, the selection of 8-year-old virgins and their claustration might both in some ways minimize their productive contribution. The theory that polygyny serves a political function, by creating ties of blood, relies ultimately upon a biological explanation, kin selection; and the theory that polygyny serves a prestige function can easily be turned on its head: men are likely to associate prestige with things to which they a priori aspire.