Marriage as an ironclad contract came about because of primogeniture - who inherits the (gol dern) paterfamilias' estate? Hence strong proscriptions against adu

Marriage as an ironclad contract came about because of primogeniture - who inherits the (gol dern) paterfamilias' estate? Hence strong proscriptions against adultery, no divorce.... the consort of a King might be committing treason through sexual misconduct... Robin Hanson has a forager-vs-farmer mores system useful for analyzing this sort of thing. Industrial systems bring back forager mores; high tech just blows it all to heck. It makes me think more of the women headed by Frances Farmer's character (Strawberry Alice) in "Unforgiven." And therefore seems sad. The plummeting birth rate is pretty much to be expected, one way or the other.