ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the possibility that lower than expected fertility of humans can be explained as part of an evolved strategy to maximize long-term fitness in the face of relatively infrequent, but severe, calamities that result in significant demographic crashes. It analyzes social status striving as an ongoing strategy with both costs and benefits, not just as the outcome of a strategy. The chapter presents a model that shows that increases in survivorship can outweigh the benefits of higher fertility even if crises are neither very frequent nor particularly severe. It argues that in ranked and stratified human societies, social status is an important factor determining the probability of lineage survival through crashes. The chapter presents further ethnographic and historic examples that show that social status is an important factor in determining who survives through catastrophic food shortages and other kinds of disasters. It discusses in more detail the nature of the tradeoff between social status maintenance and fertility.
