Via Genetic Future : The decline of inbreeding, written in our genes:
"The graph shows a steady decline in estimated inbreeding levels across the studied time span, consistent with an increased tendency for individuals to find mates far from the place they were born - something made a lot easier by mechanised transport and increased urbanisation, and something that (barring civilisational catastrophe) seems set to continue for the foreseeable future."
How do people AKA scientists get paid to produce studies about subjects self evident to a child? That’s why they call it a melting pot stupid! They should have tested Brazil where assimilation is/was a government policy, or even the genetically stable Russia where the post industrial, post revolutionary trend graph would look much similar. The emphasis on America is only in reference to the sample, but certainly is a byproduct of the global industrial revolution. Truly interesting subject is not the increase itself but the historic acceleration. For example it is interesting to take a two hundred thousand year span and measure the assimilation hot spots where the commingling suddenly shot up. That study would readily trace the imperial conquests.
Razib claims in his post Gene Expression: Decline in inbreeding over time that cousin marriages where the Protestant innovation prohibited by the Catholic church (true?). He writes:
“In Europe as a whole the rate of consanguinity has not changed monotonically over the past 1,000 years. After the Reformation cousin marriage was sanctioned in many Protestant nations whereas before the Catholic Church had strictly proscribed it. The main caveat to this is that religious regulation of marriage was a much greater concern for elites than it was for common people, as the latter often entered into common law relationships which were never formally solemnized.”
What was the Anglican and its many American offshoots policy in regards to the cousin marriages? Does this also explain all the inbreeding jokes about the American South?
Further reading:
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What was the Anglican and its many American offshoots policy in regards to the cousin marriages? Does this also explain all the inbreeding jokes about the American South?
they accepted cousin marriage in the anglican church. e.g., charles darwin. the rate of cousin marriage in the south isn't that high. rather
1) the quasi-nobility of the south started practicing it to preserve land, just like in europe
2) isolated mountain communities naturally have a smaller pool of mates
Thank you, Razib. I will be following your blog with interest.