The Origin And History Of Monogamous Relationships
Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate. The word "monogamy" comes from the Greek word monos, which means one or alone, and gamos, which means marriage or union. The term monogamy can be applied to a couple who are formally married as well as to those who choose to remain partners without being lawfully bounded to each other. It emphasizes on the importance of exclusivity, loyalty, sharing of life experiences, thoughts etc. among two partners in a relationship.
The rise of monogamy can be traced to three aspects: paternal care, resource access, and mate-choice. The evolution of monogamy in humans took place when low ranking males stopped competing against the higher ranked rivals, thereby revealing their caring side to potential suitors. Researchers, are yet to trace the exact point in human history when the males adopted monogamy over polygamy. Primate groups were generally structured in dominance-driven hierarchies, with mating privileges restricted to the few highest-ranking males. It would not have been a smooth transition for early humans to develop pair-bonding within larger groups, explained Sergey Gavrilets from the University of Tennesee in his paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal recently. Males would have been locked in a “social dilemma “where shifting one’s effort from competition to caring for their mate would have given an advantage to free riders and male cheaters.
The researchers’ models predict that the process began when lower-ranked males started using the alternative strategy of provisioning to woo potential suitors. It developed further by the evolution of female choice and high fidelity. As the system grew more popular all the males, except for those few highest ranked in the hierarchy, would have been using the new behaviour to court their future companions. The females would have become more responsive to those highly caring, protective males and less taken by the most aggressive and dominating ones.
Researchers have found that monogamy is a product of the Neolithic Age. The Neolithic Era, also known as the New Stone Age, was the time after the stone or ice age and before the Copper Age in some areas and the Bronze Age in others. Depending on the region, the era ran from around 9, 000 B. C. to about 3, 000 B. C (Neolithic Era Timeline). During this Era, people started to understand that they didn’t have to depend on hunting and gathering, in order to fill their stomachs. People started to indulge in farming, which expanded mans’ dietary habits. Not only did people started consuming fruits, vegetables and lentils; they also started maintaining cattle.
Such a way of life, helped people become aware of the importance of owning land. It also instilled in them a practical sense of living life. Earlier, the men used to have many partners with whom they had sexual relations with, but due to increase in importance of land and cattle ownership; the men started to realize the limited resources that was available. Men, during the Neolithic era faced a conundrum; they were stuck between having many sexual partners or having one partner with whom they could have babies and have the ability to cater to their needs.
Further, during this time era as men were getting used to the idea of ownership of land, women also started looking for men who would be able to provide food for them. Thus, monogamy became more strategically advantageous for humans especially males to shift their strategies towards greater investment in a smaller number of children and female partners, as having too many children and partners would lead to the increase in consumption of resources and demands that the male would have to cater to. According to Joseph Henrich, the University of British Columbia professor mentioned in an interview that one can trace monogamy to Athens as well. He stated“…In the Western tradition, the earliest we can trace laws about monogamy is actually to Athens when the first notions of democracy began to be instituted. The argument is that it's meant to create equality among citizens so that, essentially, there'll be wives available to all Athenian men, rather than having all the rich men take many wives. Although, men were still allowed to have slave concubines just so as long as they were non-Athenian women.
You can think of it as a first kind of effort to level the playing field. By saying that both the king and the peasant can only have one wife each, it's the first step toward saying that all men were created equal”. The Romans adopted the idea of monogamy from the Greeks. The Romans were allowed to have polygamous relationships, but were forced by law to have a monogamous marriage. The laws were made such, so as to promote small number of legitimate children, similar to men belonging to Neolithic Era.
It is from Rome and the birth of Christianity, that led to the spread of monogamy across the Western Civilization. Monogamy, became a way of life and marriage for people widely during the Industrial Revolution. Herbert Spencer, a sociologist had mentioned “survival of the fittest”. An example of that, can be seen as an outcome of the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization had changed the way that household income was determined, shifting the most important factor away from land towards human capital (a. k. a. education or skill level). This change in income determination had changed the way households invested in children; industrialization had shifted household preference away from many children, with little or no education, towards fewer children but with education. This was one of the reasons why the fertility rate in the US had been falling since 1800, the onset of industrialization.
