Polygynous Neighbors, Excess Men, and Intergroup Conflict in Rural Africa

2019/07/23 by Carlo Koos, Clara Neupert-Wentz · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Marriage and Sexual Relationships #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/0022002719859636

openalex publication_date 2019/07/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

We argue that polygyny creates a social imbalance where few, economically well-off men marry many wives and many poor men marry late or never. By definition, polygyny produces what we refer to as “excess men.” In order to gain material wealth, excess men are likely to raid, plunder, and rob neighboring ethnic groups. We test this hypothesis with georeferenced data on polygyny and intergroup conflict in rural Africa and find strong support. Drawing on Afrobarometer survey data, we explore the underlying mechanisms and find that young men who belong to polygynous groups feel that they are treated more unequally and are readier to use violence in comparison to those belonging to monogamous groups. Our article makes an important contribution to the peace, conflict, and development literature by emphasizing a fundamental aspect of human life: marriage and family.

Citations

• Introducing ACLED: An Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset
• Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity
• Introducing the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset
• On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough*
• Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare
• The Family as a Social Support System in Old Age
• Evolutionary Psychological Foundations of Civil Wars
• Why Is Polygyny More Prevalent in Western Africa? An African Slave Trade Perspective
• Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics
• Polygyny or Misogyny? Reexamining the “First Law of Intergroup Conflict”
• Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding

Cited by

• Polygyny [wikipedia]

Related

• High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market
• Transformations in Sub-Saharan African Marriage and Fertility
• High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market
• Polygyny and Intimate Partner Violence in Mozambique
• No evidence that polygynous marriage is a harmful cultural practice in northern Tanzania