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Polygyny in American Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Laura Betzig  and
Samantha Weber
Laura Betzig*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, USA
Samantha Weber*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, USA
*
The Evolution and Human Behavior Program, 100 Rackham, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
The Evolution and Human Behavior Program, 100 Rackham, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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Abstract

Biographical data were collected on members of the U.S. executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in George Washington's first through Ronald Reagan's last administration, from Who Was Who in America, the Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress, Vice Presidents and Cabinet Members, and Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America. They suggest that serial polygyny in this sample has declined over the last two hundred years. Census data on average American men suggest that the number of wives per man has stayed the same or increased at the same time. These trends imply that mating equality may have increased over the last two centuries of American history. What sketchy evidence exists on extramarital opportunities tentatively suggests a similar trend.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 45 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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