Why Men Rule A Theory of Male Dominance

by Goldberg, Steven

• ISBN13: 9780812692372
• ISBN10: 0812692373
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-22
• Publisher: OPEN COURT

Summary

The first edition of this book was lavishly praised by many authorities as the most formidable demonstration of an unpopular truth: males rule in all societies known to history or anthropology, for reasons arising from innate physiology, a brute fact that can never be conjured away by tinkering with social institutions. This new edition has been completely rewritten in the light of two decades of scholarship and debate, taking account of all published criticisms of earlier editions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 1
A Question and Some Ground Rules	p. 9
The Question of Male and Female	p. 9
Superiority and Inferiority	p. 10
Anthropology and the Limits of Social Variation	p. 13
The Approach of This Study	p. 13
Patriarchy Defined	p. 14
The Universality of Patriarchy	p. 15
The Evolutionary Fallacy	p. 17
The 'Prehistoric Matriarchies', the 'Amazons', and Engels	p. 18
Modern Societies	p. 23
Male Dominance Defined	p. 28
The Universality of Male Dominance	p. 31
The Universality of Male Attainment	p. 35
The Hunt for 'Exceptions' to Universality	p. 39
Two Hypotheses Tested	p. 45
Does Any Society Reverse Childhood Socialization?	p. 47
The Meaning of Universality	p. 48
Universality Does Not Imply Inevitability	p. 49
The Relevance of Cultural Variation	p. 51
Grounds for an Empirical Refutation	p. 57
Differentiation of Dominance Tendency	p. 63
The Need for a Simple Explanation	p. 63
A Short Summary of the Theory Presented in This Book	p. 64
The Differentiation of Dominance Tendency	p. 65
Seven Claims That Are Neither Assumed Nor Implied	p. 70
The Iron and Magnet Analogy	p. 73
First Digression: The 'Non-Patriarchal Society' as Refutation	p. 74
Physiological Differentiation	p. 77
The Meaning of the Physiological Evidence	p. 78
Human Hermaphrodites	p. 81
Tomboyism	p. 85
Testosterone and Dominance Tendency	p. 88
The Irrelevance of Exceptions	p. 93
Feedback and Suggestion	p. 95
Physiology and Within-Sex Differences	p. 96
Dominance Behavior in Boys and Girls	p. 97
A Crucial Question This Book Leaves Unanswered	p. 98
Physiological Evolution	p. 99
Second Digression: Race and IQ, Territoriality, and Male Bonding	p. 100
Social Conformation to Psychophysiological Reality	p. 103
Socialization	p. 103
Two Additional Aspects of Socialization	p. 106
The Mbuti Pygmies	p. 107
The Limits of Possibility	p. 109
Social Exaggeration of the Physiological	p. 110
Discrimination of a Sort	p. 111
The Future	p. 113
Three Methodological Observations	p. 116
The Inadequacy of a Non-Physiological Explanation	p. 121
The Weight of the Evidence	p. 121
The Environmentalist's Dilemma	p. 123
Alternative Explanations of Universality	p. 125
The Fallacy of the Irrelevant Experiment	p. 130
Confusion and Fallacy in the Environmentalist Analysis	p. 135
The Necessity of Theory	p. 135
The Environmentalist Assumption	p. 136
Four Fallacies	p. 138
Vulgarized Marxism	p. 145
The Failure to Ask 'Why?'	p. 148
Third Digression: The Obscurantism of an Inadequate Analysis	p. 149
Common Objections to the Theory of Male Dominance	p. 155
Twenty-five Questions to Ask about Any Criticism of the Theory of Male Dominance	p. 155
An Aside on the Role of Neuro-endocrinological and Experimental Evidence	p. 173
The Appeal to Variation and 'Complexity': The Case of Philip Green	p. 176
Possible Sexual Differentiation in Cognitive Aptitudes	p. 197
Sexual Differentiation in Modes of Cognition	p. 198
Evidence for the Correctness of the Stereotype	p. 199
Environmentalist Objections and the Validity of Stereotypes	p. 207
Social Implications of Sexual Cognitive Differences	p. 210
High Genius in the Arts and Sciences	p. 213
Male and Female	p. 223
Appendix: Alleged Exceptions to the Universality of Patriarchy and Male Dominance	p. 231
Index	p. 249
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