Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article on reproductive
success and culture by Daniel Perusse. It has been accepted for
publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international,
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CULTURAL AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES:
Testing the relationship at the proximate and ultimate levels
Daniel Perusse
Department of Anthropology
Universite de Montreal
C. P. 6128, succursale A, Montreal
Canada, H3C 3J7
Present address: Department of Human Genetics, Medical College of
Virginia, Richmond, VA, 23298-0003
Electronic mail: dperusse at gems.vcu.edu
KEYWORDS: status striving; novel environment; potential conceptions;
human psyche; achievement motivation; female choice; teaching biases;
sociobiology; French-Canadians
ABSTRACT: In most social species, position in the male social hierarchy
and reproductive success are positively correlated. This relationship
is less clear in humans where studies of traditional societies have
produced mixed results. In the most economically advanced human
populations, the adaptiveness of status attainment vanishes altogether
as social status and fertility are uncorrelated. These findings have
been interpreted by many as suggesting that evolutionary principles may
not be appropriate for the explanation of human behavior, especially in
modern environments. The present study tests the adaptiveness of social
status with actual mating and reproductive data in a representative
sample of males from an industrial society. Results show that
reproductive success, even when assessed by a more reliable measure of
male fertility than the one commonly used, fails to correlate with
social status. In striking contrast, however, status is found to be
highly correlated with proximate components of fitness, accounting for
as much as 62% of the variance in male mating success. This effect is
remarkably similar to the one found in many traditional societies and
would result in a substantial relationship between cultural and
reproductive success in industrial populations were it not for the
novel conditions imposed by contraception and monogamy. Various
underlying mechanisms are suggested for these findings, and the value
of current behavioral and reproductive data is stressed for the study
of adaptation. It is concluded that evolutionary explanations of human
behavior remain entirely relevant in modern societies.
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