William Buckner

William Buckner is a student of Evolutionary Anthropology at UC Davis. He is interested in cultural evolution and understanding human conflict patterns across cultures.

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8 Posts

A Girl’s Place in the World

Men (and, less often, women as well) across societies all over the world have used violence in an attempt to control women’s reproductive outcomes and limit the choices available to them, and in many circumstances, men have benefited from doing so.

William Buckner

9 May 2019 · 14 min read

On the Nature of Patriarchy

As Hrdy sees patriarchal social practices as being rooted in our ancient evolutionary heritage, she argues that progress towards sex equality should not be taken for granted.

William Buckner

25 Nov 2018 · 16 min read

Burying a Child

Societies the world over have had to adapt to high rates of infant and child mortality, developing beliefs and social traditions to mitigate the impact of seeing so many of their offspring die

William Buckner

27 Jul 2018 · 9 min read

Explaining Monogamy to Vox

“Why would humans all around the world invent a rule that’s so difficult to follow, and treat breaking as such an enormous betrayal?”

William Buckner

7 Jun 2018 · 13 min read

The Complicated Legacy of Colonial Contact

The effects of colonial contact, and the process of acculturation on small-scale societies, can be quite unpredictable.

William Buckner

29 Apr 2018 · 8 min read

Becoming a Man

“To be a man in most of the societies we have looked at, one must impregnate women, protect dependents from danger, and provision kith and kin.”

William Buckner

9 Apr 2018 · 12 min read

The Behavioral Ecology of Male Violence

Understanding patterns of lethal violence among humans requires understanding some important sex differences between males and females.

William Buckner

24 Feb 2018 · 15 min read

Romanticizing the Hunter-Gatherer

It is important to note that this does not take into account the difficulty or danger involved in the types of tasks undertaken by hunter-gatherers.

William Buckner

16 Dec 2017 · 13 min read