Summary: Before we start this series speculating about our new society as gender roles change unrecognizably, I’ll reverse my usual procedure and give the conclusions at the beginning. The early signs of these things have already appeared, but most readers will be shocked — and many will be horrified. {1st of 2 posts today.}
“Always in motion is the future.”
— Yoda, Jedi-Knight.
An outline of this series
A combination of social evolution and technology — with complex feedbacks between them — has greatly changed gender roles during the past 150 years, and the process has just begun. We can only guess at possible outcomes ahead from trends already running, which is what we’ll do in this series.
I believe that women will continue to outperform men in education and therefore taking an increasingly powerful — and eventually a dominant — role in the professions, business, and politics. Accelerating this trend will be their natural advantages in bureaucratic organizations (from classroom to boardroom) as the weight of sexism fades.
In such a world fewer women will be able to marry up (aka hypergamy) as the balance of power shifts in their favor, putting further stress on the institution of marriage and the nuclear family structure.
As patriarchy dies marriage will offer ever fewer benefits to men. They’ll compare the consequence-less sex so easy available without marriage — with the burden of marriage, raising children, doing half the housework — and the high odds of one’s wife initiating divorce, taking the kids, and levying a decade or two of child support payments. At home paternity tests might increase their cynicism about the institution, as 2-3% of men discover that they’re not the biological father of their children. These things will wreck the already decaying structure of the nuclear family.
Women choosing men without hypergamy often will select for charisma (i.e., alphas) instead of breadwinner ability. As attractive women focus on a small pool of alphas, there’s not much left for young betas (the omegas seldom get anything). The increasing number of obese women further limits the eligibles available to the majority of young men, as the legalization of dating (e.g., getting affirmative consent at each base) diminishes their interest in the game. As a result increasing numbers of young men are already dropping from the rat race of chasing career success and women (always interrelated) — turning instead to porn, sports, and games. That will become more attractive as technology makes all three more engrossing.
Another revolutionary aspect of these dynamics, already seen on our college campuses, is to reverse the traditional dominant role of women in setting the rules for relationships. As they chase a small pool of men, the men set the rules — and women enjoy the game less (see this study). It’s like the law of equivalent exchange at work, as what women gain in one sphere they lose in another.
These trends will express themselves differently in each class. Marriage will again be a behavior of the upper classes. The government will increasingly support single mothers among the proles (they’ll be few in the middle classes, especially after scientists create the Pill for men, allowing them to more easily control their paternity). Social mobility will decline from its already low levels. This is fine for the 1%, since the resulting atomized society will provide few centers of power to challenge them, and they’re uninterested in the personal behavior of the proles.
Most of these trends have already appeared, at least on a small scale. Many have advanced further in Europe. They can be seen even more clearly on our TV and movie screens (see posts in the last section). We just don’t want to see them. The Left has feminist dreams, while the Right has dreams of restoring the 1950s.
My guess is that our future will be a combination of “back to the future” (e.g., strong class structure with low social mobility) and features unique in history (although there are always precedents) — which neither today’s Left nor Right will find satisfactory.
About these matters
Are these changes good or bad? Please consult a priest or philosopher for answers to such questions. This series only discusses what was, what is, and what might be. Understanding first, judgments afterwards. Then we can work to forge a better future.
Before you decide, however, imagine how would people from the past regard our society? Consider someone brought to our time from before the massive changes that began in the 1970s, like Bat Masterson from Dodge City in 1877.
“Nothing is written.”
— Lawrence of Arabia, in the movie.
This afternoon’s post will recommend books exploring our new future.
For More Information.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See my list of accurate predictions here. See all posts about women and gender issues. Of special interest are these about marriage and gender role:
- What’s the future of the family in America? How will that change our government?
- Do we want to bring back traditional marriage? What is traditional marriage?
- The feminist revolutionaries have won. Insurgents have arisen to challenge the new order. As always, they’re outlaws.
- “Mockingjay” shows us a Revolution in Gender Roles. What’s the next revolution?
- The war of the sexes heats up: society changes as men learn the Dark Triad.
- The revolution in gender roles reshapes society in ways too disturbing to see.
Examination of the hit TV show “Castle” as a mirror to our changing society:
- “Castle” shows us marriage in America, a fault line between our past & future
- “Castle” shows us a dark vision of Romance in America
- “Castle” helps us adjust to a new America, with women on top
- Beckett shows our future. She chooses wisely & marries Castle, but dreams at night of her alpha ex-boyfriend.