Characteristics of a male-heavy society?

[Unconsensual]

Suppose somehow a particular tribe has a genetic predisposition towards males, how would the gender imbalance affect the society.

Condition: this tribe has access to other clans with normal gender ratios.

 

[Johnrankins]

This belongs in ASB as the genetic code in humans isn't likely to change THAT much naturally.

 

[Uff Da the optimist]

If by some reason this does happen
I guess either a society based on travelling to other places looking for mates or a warrior-society based on conquest?

And this is based on if they will remotely resemble other cultures.

 

[PhilippeO]

They will have to continually raid other societies, both to take women as wife and to kill off excess young male. It will like the magyar when they first enter europe. After several generation, their genetic anomaly will be swamped by their wifes/mothers gene and become normal society.


Alternatively they could develop strong monastic tradition where excess male go to monastery. some medieval society managed to have 20% of male as celibate monk/friar, so little genetic anomaly could be tolerated, if they have a LOT of male than female (more than 20%) then this monastic solution would be unworkable.

 

[Admiral Ackbar]

They will have to continually raid other societies, both to take women as wife and to kill off excess young male. It will like the magyar when they first enter europe. After several generation, their genetic anomaly will be swamped by their wifes/mothers gene and become normal society.

This^

Have you thought about the reverse though? What if you had a female heavy society where the birthrate is something like 2 females for every 1 male. If they had a strong culture that relied on polygamous marriages and prevented their women from reproducing with men from outside the tribe, then the genetic anomaly could survive. What would that type of society look like?

Edit: I don't think it would be similar to past polygamous societies since the ratio would come about naturally. Having to banish young boys from the society in order to keep the female to male ratio must have larger psychological and political implications on the people. Mothers and Fathers having to abandon the sons that don't make the cut and the effects it has on child rearing, and the politics involved in deciding who gets kicked out will eventually lead to problems.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Actually, such an anomaly simply can't survive.

If you have 2 men for every woman, then women (on average) have twice as many kids as men do. Thus there is a huge evolutionary advantage for families that have more daughters than normal.

The selection pressure for 'equal' ratios is absolutely huge.

Look at herd animals, say horses. You have 1 stallion, and say 20 mares. It would make sense for 90-95% of the foals to be female, but it doesn't work that way.

 

[Grimm Reaper]

Great tensions and probable conflict as neighboring societies frantically try to find ways to protect their beer.

 

[Grumpy young Man]

The quantity of men that would work on themselves would improve greatly, be that on mental or physichal agenda, since the possibility of attracting women would be even smaller.

All activities that serve as "letting off steam" would be more prominent, also more alcohol and bars, more crimes and bank robberies...
There was a thread with some article about how there is a great disproportion of this nature in the China's rural surroundings and that all those guys will start getting slowly annoyed by their situation and go towards Russia and new jobs and possible wives. Don't know what to think about that, honestly.

 

[Hendryk]

Human groups which for some reason find themselves with a significant gender imbalance in favor of males usually fall apart in short order. IIRC Carl Sagan mentioned the micro-society formed on Pitcairn Island by the Bounty mutineers as an example of such imbalance, in his book Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: in less than 20 years, all the men save one had killed each other or met other premature ends.

 

[SargentHawk]

in short, porn, and a lot of it

 

[dgharis]

Assuming normal human genetics any such imbalance will be temporary and due to extraordinary circumstances. An example would be Paraguay in the 1870's; the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870) had led to the deaths of more than half of Paraguayan adult males, creating a huge imbalance toward females. (The 1871 census listed 221,079 people: 86,079 children of both sexes, 106,254 adult females, and 28,746 adult males.) Even one hundred years later females outnumbered males there significantly; however, as of the present date the ratio is a normal 51 males to 50 females. So a ratio of nearly four females to one male has returned to the normal equality in one hundred forty years.