Of the society in the OP, it is alleged that “money or goods earned by a male are handed over to his wife or sister”. That is not true of the society that rap songs depict. That is not true of the society that rap songs depict.
Very true, the society of the OP appears to be different. The society of the underclass is a society where men use money to buy status symbols that help them build coalitions among men and gain success among women. Their women often give them gifts of great value or support them.
But it is in a sense very similar to the kind of societies often associated with tropical agriculture in some parts of the world, where women provide and work supporting their men, while men work less and not so much to support anyone but to obtain high status trophies from hunting or war which boosts their reproductive success (rape as a result of violence/warfare is also a significant contribution).
Its actually a very neat adaptation. Additional resources beyond a certain level hit diminishing returns for female reproductive success faster than for male reproductive success. So if women are the ones with the material resources it seems a good idea for sisters and mothers to use part of their surplus to boost the social standing of their sons and brothers. Also females might benefit genetically (in the form of sexier sons more likley to spread genes) by trying to use resources to catch a male’s attention. And from the male’s perspective a female that supports you or provides gifts can boost you success with other females as well. So you might want to take a loot at her even if she’s less attractive than your norm. Since you aren’t expected to support your offspring your fidelity isn’t that vital either, since your children won’t get much resources directly from you in any case, thus “bastards” aren’t really as problematic to women here as they are to women in patriarchal monogamous society (where they are potentially “stealing” resources from her offspring that need as much investment from the father as they can get).
Very true, the society of the OP appears to be different. The society of the underclass is a society where men use money to buy status symbols that help them build coalitions among men and gain success among women. Their women often give them gifts of great value or support them.
But it is in a sense very similar to the kind of societies often associated with tropical agriculture in some parts of the world, where women provide and work supporting their men, while men work less and not so much to support anyone but to obtain high status trophies from hunting or war which boosts their reproductive success (rape as a result of violence/warfare is also a significant contribution).
Its actually a very neat adaptation. Additional resources beyond a certain level hit diminishing returns for female reproductive success faster than for male reproductive success. So if women are the ones with the material resources it seems a good idea for sisters and mothers to use part of their surplus to boost the social standing of their sons and brothers. Also females might benefit genetically (in the form of sexier sons more likley to spread genes) by trying to use resources to catch a male’s attention. And from the male’s perspective a female that supports you or provides gifts can boost you success with other females as well. So you might want to take a loot at her even if she’s less attractive than your norm. Since you aren’t expected to support your offspring your fidelity isn’t that vital either, since your children won’t get much resources directly from you in any case, thus “bastards” aren’t really as problematic to women here as they are to women in patriarchal monogamous society (where they are potentially “stealing” resources from her offspring that need as much investment from the father as they can get).
This all sounds pretty plausible to me. I certainly wouldn’t expect that the society in the OP is some kind of Angel One-style matriarchal utopia.