Sometimes it’s difficult to shake the feeling that Elon Musk has been specifically designed to render uncool many of the scientific dreams of my childhood. Electric cars, space flight, terraforming Mars – even the letter X, the most reliable of 1990s metonyms for edgy, futuristic cool, isn’t safe. Perhaps the most egregious example, however, is the wolf.
In September, Musk retweeted a provocative image on his social media platform. Another user had shared a screenshot from the controversial messageboard 4Chan as part of a spat with Robert Reich, who was secretary of labour in Bill Clinton’s cabinet and had recently published a column that criticised Musk’s influence.
The image relayed the theory of an anonymous user that “only high T alpha males” could make independent judgments because women and men with low testosterone were unable to physically defend themselves, and so agreed with societal consensus as a survival mechanism. The implication was that “a republic of high-status males is best for decision-making”.
The retweet generated significant backlash, not least because Musk had uncritically shared the misogynistic and antidemocratic image. The fact that it contained language associated with Andrew Tate, the influencer who is currently under house arrest in Romania on human trafficking charges, was not lost on many commentators.
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Tate, despite or perhaps because of his almost cartoonishly evil misogyny, was frighteningly popular with a section of teenage boys. But to the rest of us, he was baffling; an obvious grifter who not only had abhorrent views but indulged in painfully uncool behaviour, from smoking massive cigars to dubbing himself “high status” and an “alpha”.
Musk is a different story. To many adults he remains an eccentric tech billionaire. As one of the world’s richest people, he is generally taken seriously on a level that Tate could never hope to reach.
But what does this have to do with wolves and my childhood? In the 1990s, wolves were a significant cultural force. Films such as Dances With Wolves and White Fang cast them as romantic symbols of self-discovery. It says a lot about the era that wolves were able to represent the spiritual ideals of New Age mysticism, rugged individualism, and the anti-hero archetype, not least why airbrushed graphic T-shirts with wolf motifs were so pervasive.
The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995 was widely covered in the press and generated renewed attention to a 1970 study by biologist David Mech. A wildlife biologist, Mech authored The Wolf: Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species (1970), which recorded his observations of captive wolves. Mech noted that the wolves he studied exhibited clear hierarchical patterns, in which some tended to dominate the others.
In 2010, Elon Musk’s first wife, Justine, wrote that he had declared himself the alpha in their relationship at their wedding reception a decade earlier
Mech dubbed the dominant pack leaders in the wolf hierarchies that he studied the “alpha”. Other ethologists studied the more complicated hierarchies of primates such as chimpanzees, and frequently observed dominant males using aggression and the control of resources such as food to secure a leadership role. Before long, the idea of the alpha male as a biological norm was widespread and was even applied to humans.
Ironically, the concept of the alpha male human is shaped by culture rather than biology, as it reflects restrictive expectations from wider society of what constitutes masculinity. The sociologist Michael Kimmel has argued that to meet the stereotypical image of a successful alpha male, many men engage in harmful behaviour such as aggression, hypercompetitiveness, and an eschewal of emotion.
Human social structures are orders of magnitude more fluid and complicated than even the most complex of animal hierarchies. A simplistic view of domination does not map neatly on to our interactions, while anthropological evidence shows that we have evolved to value co-operation, reciprocity and empathy. Leadership studies show the ability to communicate, engage and inspire collaboration are more valuable than the ability to dominate.
[ Alpha: Absorbing origins story for man's best friendOpens in new window ]
By the end of the 20th century, Mech had realised that not only did humanity not feature alpha males; neither did the wolf species. The behaviour he had observed was a result of wolves being in captivity. In the wild, wolves live in family packs, where parents lead their offspring, and the dominant behaviours of the captive alpha males are not found.
However, the idea of the alpha male was already well entrenched. In 2010, Musk’s first wife, Justine, wrote that he had declared himself the alpha in their relationship at their wedding reception a decade earlier. But no matter how much money he has, he’ll never be as cool as that epitome of 1990s awesomeness, the wolf.
Stuart Mathieson is research manager with InterTradeIreland
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