judaism permitted polygamy. the article does not mention that. polygamy was widespread in china, japan, among the native peoples in the western hemisphere, classical greece, polynesia, australian aboriginal peoples, and africa well into historical times. in contrast, monogamy in the western world did not come into practice until classical roman times. a literal interpretation of the bible (old and new testaments) reveals to an honest and impartial reader that nothing in the bible forbids polygamy. the contemporary christian view that jesus forbids polygamy did not gain acceptance until christian teachings were modified and adapted to become more attractive to middle class romans.
the article is interesting, but woefully incomplete in its presentation of data and analysis, and i do not sense any correlation, nor any honest attempt to present a case for any such correlation. this is not to say the writer is being deceptive so much as to say that the writer never rises significantly beyond his peers to a level needed to convince me of the premise. ymmv.
Good post, you answered a lot of questions that I had but I didn’t want to beleaguer others by asking.
Quite frankly, if it weren’t for the “angry man” problem I think polygamy probably works well. Men like sex more than women, women like to hang out together more than men, more hands to raise the kids, etc.
Think of the end of Dr. Strangelove, where the one old duffer proposes taking prominent men (himself and his friends) to live in the post-nuke bunkers with many beautiful women in order to maintain the human race. Of course these old farts will have to hook up with many women each, that’s the sacrifice they’ll have to make for mankind.
The system of marrying the girls young, and to cousins, also reduces female infanticide -- it's less of an investment in the support of the girl, the investment stays in the clan, and after a young age it's the husband's responsibility to keep her fed and clothed.