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The Alpha Male Myth
In 1970, a young biologist named David Mech published what could be the most consequential book on wolves ever written. At the time, "The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species" was the most complete collection of scientific knowledge on wolves money could buy, and it became a bestseller for Dave's publishers. But outside of the world of wolf biology, the book is also credited with unleashing a certain idea into our popular lexicon: The Alpha.
The thing is, Dave made a mistake – and the alpha wolf doesn't exist.
This week on Endless Thread, Ben and Amory track down the origins of "the alpha" and whether this idea – which has been recanted by the very scientist who popularized it – has any legitimacy when applied to people.
Show notes:
- The Myth of the Alpha Wolf (The New Yorker)
- Do alpha males even exist? (The Guardian)
- Elon Musk Shares Theory That Only ‘Alpha Males’ Should Vote (Newsweek)
This content was created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e., music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.
