The BBC's ace economics blogger Robert Peston says the economic crisis is partly the result of testosterone poisoning. Consider, he says, that it's impossible to find a single woman at the top of the banks and other institutions that failed so badly. There's more:
But I think there may be a sense (and here I'm on very dangerous territory) in which masculine vices played a dominant role in fomenting the crunch.And, I suppose, the simplest way of putting this is that I know very few women who measure their success in life by the size of their respective bank balances, whereas I know an astonishing number of men for whom the only thing that matters is "the score", as determined by the heft of their salaries, or bonuses or capital gain.
We've descended into the uncomfortable realm of hack psychology, so we're not going to stay here long.
But I would observe that - in my experience - men are more prone than women to simply run like a train at the goal, and never mind who's flattened along the way.
And the kind of complex mathematical modelling that underpinned so many of the toxic financial products - and of flawed systems for controlling risk - is also a peculiarly male practice. It's the equivalent of an obsession with computer games, or cricket scores or railway timetables: little worlds detached from the real world.
Anything to this? What do you think? I suspect there's more truth to it than I would be comfortable admitting. But if we accept that personality traits related to masculinity, either biologically or culturally based, are responsible to some degree for the catastrophic failure of these businesses, then we must logically accept that it is theoretically possible to blame business failures in particular circumstances on biological and/or cultural factors on the role women took in the business, or minorities. It's easy to float this kind of explanation when the people being cracked on are white males, and the person doing the cracking is also a white male. I, a white male, think that Peston is onto something. But if he is, then we cannot avoid the possibility that in the future, someone can justifiably point to a genetic or cultural factor related to other businesses failing (or succeeding). That's not something anybody will be able to talk about in public.
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Just got in from traveling all day from England. How unfortunate that the psychotic "Reader" and a couple of other trolls had a field day while I was away. That's why God made the "unpublish" button. Sorry for the problems, but they don't got no wi-fi on transatlantic flights. Yet.
Reader: Diversity Recession
I hadn't heard that term before. Care to explain what the theory behind it is?
DavidTC:
because men trying to attract men stop caring about money and power and start caring about their looks
Now this really drives home just how much Rod's original post was a massive oversimplification of psychology. If I may use myself as exhibit A in this little experiment, I won't claim that I'm particularly driven by money or power, but considering I'm an overweight, kinda hairy, ugly guy in my late 30s with a $10 haircut, an old pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, I'd have to say that your stereotypes need a little adjusting. I've got my desires, but looking good isn't all that high on the list.
Geoff G.
If I may use myself as exhibit A in this little experiment, I won't claim that I'm particularly driven by money or power, but considering I'm an overweight, kinda hairy, ugly guy in my late 30s with a $10 haircut, an old pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, I'd have to say that your stereotypes need a little adjusting. I've got my desires, but looking good isn't all that high on the list.
I'm not talking in stereotypes, otherwise, I wouldn't have 'stereotyped' straight men as being driven by money and power, which very few of them actually are.
I'm talking about subconscious cultural goals. Men want to grow up and be president, women want to grow up to be beautiful princesses. Of course most of them don't really, and not when they hit adulthood, but they're managing to articulate the direction society has aimed them. (And society has aimed them there because that's how you attract someone of the opposite gender.)
Adults have, especially by the time they've actually gotten a mate, usually managed to get past this, or at least tempered it greatly. Women just want to look moderately attractive, men just want a steady salary. Same thing, scaled way down.
And while not all gay men change their cultural goals, some do. I know four gay men (I volunteer at a theatre), and they're all like that, and I can only think of one that I've ever seen slightly less than immaculate. (To be fair, this is true of a few straight theatre people too, but most straight guys are slobs off stage.)
This does not mean that all gay men, or even most gay men, are like this. Or, rather, like this to any notable extent. I'm just saying they have swapped their methods to attract a mate, usually without realizing it. 80% of them might slack off in this method, 19% care somewhat, and 1% go on to be Hollywood stars (Or fashion designers, which is 'being attractive' at a metalevel.), whereas the 1% of straight men go on to be the hedge fund managers or other money-mad people.
Lesbians I am not as familiar with. (Actual lesbians that would like a woman as a long-term mate, that is, not 'sometimes makes out with other women'.) I freely admit I'm just guessing there, but lesbian couples really do seem to be looking for some sort of security in their life, and that's it.
None of this should be confused with ideas of 'masculinity' and 'femininity'. Both those include what I'm talking about to some extent, you'd not a very good example of a man or woman if you can't attract a woman or man, but those also include many other things.
The housing bubble was caused in precisely those neighborhoods where restrictive zoning drove up real estate prices. Busy-body zoning bodies and city councils forbade construction outside of given perimeters, drove up the real estate prices inside their perimters, and caused the housing bubbles. There's a very good study that identifies exactly those neighborhoods where housing prices have collapsed, and zoning is the culprit.
As for men, I know few men who want a house as large and lavish and as costly as their wives. Women want expensive housing, because it is a status symbol of their achievements.
Beowulf - Dittos.
Once they get past the car (heh), all these guys are just earning $ so they can pay for honey-do's.
Him - beer in the backyard, a weekend fishing/camping
Her - annual vacation in Bermuda, cross-country trips with the family
Him - 1 br apt a couple train stops from work. over a Starbucks or - better yet - a bar with a pool table. or a live-aboard boat in the Port of NJ
Her - 4 br house in the Hamptons
and so on...
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