Skip to main content

Origins of Patriarchy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Male dominance; Patriarchy; Sexism; Sexual coercion; Sexual control

Definition

Explanatory hypotheses based on evolutionary theories on the process of submission of women with a view to the control of female sexuality and reproduction.

Introduction

Because of the different reproductive strategies (and biological configurations) of males and females, females would be more selective and therefore a rare resource in society, and males would face greater intrasexual competition. This scenario would be the basis of the male motivation to control female sexuality, and it is called patriarchy (Smuts 1992, 1995). Female sexuality coercion strategies involve various forms of violence such as physical assault, rape, threats, and other forms of intimidation that result in the creation of hierarchical cultures based on male domination (Appel 2016; Smuts 1992).

The biologist Barbara Smuts (1995) proposes, based on the integration of primatology findings, six hypotheses that would describe...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mozer de Miranda Ramos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ramos, M.d.M., Vasconcelos, I.G. (2019). Origins of Patriarchy. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3186-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3186-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics