A recent social media post by user ℜ𝔞𝔠 has drawn attention to academic research suggesting that normative monogamy plays a crucial role in fostering societal stability, leading to reduced crime rates and enhanced economic productivity. The tweet, which summarizes findings from evolutionary anthropology and sociology, asserts that this marital structure benefits communities by reorienting male efforts towards paternal investment rather than competition for mates.
According to the tweet, "> [N]ormative monogamy reduces crime rates, including rape, murder, assault, robbery and fraud, as well as decreasing personal abuses." This claim aligns with studies, notably a 2012 paper titled "The Puzzle of Monogamous Marriage" by Joseph Henrich, Robert Boyd, and Peter J. Richerson, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Their research indicates that institutionalized monogamous marriage suppresses intrasexual competition among men, thereby shrinking the pool of low-status, risk-oriented unmarried males often associated with higher crime rates.
The research further posits that "> By shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, normative monogamy increases savings, child investment and economic productivity." This redirection of male resources is argued to contribute significantly to a society's overall economic output and the quality of its future generations. Societies with institutionalized monogamy have shown higher GDP per capita and greater parental investment.
Moreover, the tweet highlights the impact on domestic harmony, stating, "> By increasing the relatedness within households, normative monogamy reduces intra-household conflict, leading to lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death and homicide." This suggests that the structure of monogamous households inherently reduces internal strife and improves outcomes for children.
The scholarly work underpinning these claims often contrasts monogamous societies with polygynous ones, where, historically, a small number of high-status men might accumulate multiple wives, leaving a larger number of men without partners. This disparity is theorized to fuel social instability and various forms of conflict. While the benefits of normative monogamy are emphasized in this research, some critical perspectives note that historical enforcement of monogamy often occurred in contexts where women's sexuality was viewed as property, and marriage served economic rather than purely consensual purposes.