Culture, Selection, and Gender Differences
Roy Baumeister’s talk at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting provocatively argues the following. Historically, cultures that have matched men’s higher variance in reproductive outcomes with higher-variance occupations for men have been more likely to succeed.
The article is loosely argued, poorly referenced,… and probably, in its central claims, with more than a grain of truth. It certainly has no shortage of interesting fact and anecdote. Three observations:
- Heterogeneity among men and among women may be at least as large as the differences between the genders. To the extent that’s true, it remains a puzzle why cultures would have so sharply delineated gender roles.
- One clear implication of Baumeister’s theory is that strong cultural advocacy of lifelong monogamy– which promotes gender equality in reproductive outcomes– ought to be paired with cultural advocacy of occupational equality.
- Things have changed. In the last century or so, particularly in the West, women have had historic achievements in every sphere. Baumeister doesn’t attempt to explain why.
