Levirate polyandry preserved clans against male infertility

Evidence

Group survival is a key factor, but not the only measure of cultural success. After all, a group may figure out the means to survive for a long time, but if the group’s demographic prospects are dim, then it will have a smaller cultural market share than larger, but equally stable groups. All else being equal, smaller groups are at a disadvantage when competing with larger groups. This brings us to two key demographic factors that give prosocial religious groups an edge: conversions (whether free or coercive) and fertility rates. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 488 (#expands, via linked claim)

The economic function of reproduction. This is not only a general fact which concerns the whole of society in its totality, because society demands a certain proportion between age-groups for purposes of production and of supporting the section of the population that for normal reasons (age, illness, etc.) is passive. It is also a “molecular” fact which operates within the smallest economic units, such as the family. The expression about the “staff of old age” demonstrates an instinctive consciousness of the economic need for there to be a certain ratio of young to old over the entire area of society. The sight of the maltreatment meted out in country villages to old people without a family encourages couples to want to have children. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1098 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Group cultural dominance depends on conversions and fertility, not just longevity — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 488; Reproduction serves an economic function at both societal and family scales — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1098

Broader Connections

• Group cultural dominance depends on conversions and fertility, not just longevity #expands (0.78) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 488
• Reproduction serves an economic function at both societal and family scales #expands (0.72) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1098