This refers to the hypothesis that the practice of polygyny, where multiple females choose to mate with a single male, is the result of the desire to achieve access to resources held by dominant males. Accordingly, societies in which resources are concentrated in the hands of a few males should witness more polygyny. The hypothesis was first proposed by American ecologist Gordon H. Orians in his 1969 paper “On the evolution of mating systems in birds and mammals”. The model has also been used to explain the prevalence of polyandry in certain societies where resources needed for male survival are under the control of dominant females.
