The War of the Sexes: How Conflict and Cooperation Have Shaped Men and Women from Prehistory to the Present

Description

Men and women became experts at influencing one another to achieve their cooperative ends, but also became trapped in strategies of manipulation and deception in pursuit of sex and partnership. Drawing on biology, sociology, anthropology, and economics, this book shows that conflict between the sexes is, paradoxically, the product of cooperation.

Paul Seabright is the author of "The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life" (Princeton). He is professor of economics at the Toulouse School of Economics, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, and has been a fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford, and Churchill College, University of Cambridge.

"[A] witty, informative and cogent new book."--Jonathan Ree, Guardian "Seabright zooms out and across history in an accessible mix of scholarly prose and chatty anecdote to explain why inequalities and disagreements persist beyond potty-training... Turning to today, Seabright investigates everything from the effects of technology on gender-bias, to the various benefits of tallness, talent, and charm in the workplace."--PublishersWeekly.com "Throughout the book, Seabright is terrific company--entertaining and convincing."--John Whitfield, Nature "Right off the bat, I can say that this book should not be collecting dust on your shelf... [I]s War of the Sexes a challenging and interesting read? Undoubtedly so."--Sander Van Der Linden, LSE Politics and Policy blog "The War of the Sexes is a fascinating read. I love its interdisciplinarity."--Diane Coyle, The Enlightened Economist "Seabright, an economist familiar with evolutionary modelling, synthesises several disciplines in asking what our evolutionary heritage teaches us about men's and women's rights and roles in the modern labour market. Judicious in bringing Darwinism to bear on contemporary mores, he avoids the vulgar reductionism that often plagues this kind of popular science."--Camilla Power, Times Higher Education