Profile of an alpha

Game, as it currently exists, is a qualitative subject rather than a quantitative one. That qualitative narrative bumps up uncomfortably against the hard data available, so the latter is either minimized or dismissed outright. While this is not the primary reason I find that Game and human biodiversity make strange bedfellows (the primary reason being that the utility of Game is inversely related to the importance of HBD), I'm inherently skeptical of anything that lives by anecdote alone.

Consequently, I seek to interject empirical information into the subject of Game whenever I am able to. We've previously seen that in the US sexual activity has remained steady or declined gently over the last couple of decades, that men of all races with fewer partners have more children than men with many partners do, and that men who cheat have more kids than men who don't but women who cheat have fewer kids than women who do not.

Now, we'll try and add some insights into the demographic characteristics of alphas and betas. Propitiously, the GSS has a great question that, according to the Game narrative, gets right at a crucial distinction between alphas and betas: Alphas do not put the objects of their affection before themselves, while betas do.

The question asks the respondent if he agrees with the statement that he would rather suffer himself than have a woman he is in a relationship with suffer. Being openly willing to suffer for a lover is clearly the mark of a beta. If you're engaged in pumping-and-dumping, the girl is in the process of suffering for your pleasure even as the GSS question is being considered. Your answer is obvious.

Responses are on a five point scale, from strongly agreeing to strongly disagreeing. Not surprisingly, a majority of men strongly agree--chivalrous ideals are not dead, and by definition betas outnumber alphas. Where the alpha-beta dividing line among the four other responses is placed is contingent upon what percentage of the total male population is alpha and what percentage is beta. Of course the Game narrative does not maintain that an absolute dichotomy exists, but for empirical purposes distinctions have to be made somewhere.

In his definitive post on what constitutes an alpha, Roissy puts the low end ("lesser") alpha at 7 on the 0-10 point scale, while Adonis ("greater alpha") is obviously at 10. Since it's actually an 11 point scale, the 0-6 beta and omega range comprises 64% of the population while the 7-10 alpha range comprises the remaining 36%. Separating the "strongly agree" beta response from the other four yields a 69.3%/30.7% split, corresponding very well to the chart included in Roissy's post. As Roissy is one of the Game narrative's intellectual giants, this is how the alpha/beta split is defined in what proceeds.

The following tables show what percentage of men in each of the respective demographic categories are alphas and what percentage are betas. As the question was only posed in 2004 (622 men answered the question), Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans are combined--much to the President's relief--into the "other" category:

Party	Alpha	Beta
Republican	24.7%	75.3%
Independent	27.6%	72.4%
Democrat	37.2%	62.8%

Philosophy	Alpha	Beta
Conservative	25.4%	74.6%
Moderate	30.1%	69.9%
Liberal	40.7%	59.3%

Race	Alpha	Beta
White	27.9%	72.1%
Black	42.9%	57.1%
Other	39.5%	60.5%

Kids?	Alpha	Beta
Yes	25.0%	75.0%
No	41.1%	58.9%

Married?	Alpha	Beta
Yes	22.6%	77.4%
No	42.5%	57.5%

Go to bar	Alpha	Beta
At least once a month	36.1%	63.9%
Less than monthly	26.7%	73.3%

Go to church	Alpha	Beta
Never	42.5%	57.5%
Less than monthly	30.3%	69.7%
Less than weekly	34.4%	65.6%
Weekly+	18.9%	81.1%

Education	Alpha	Beta
Less than high school	36.5%	63.5%
High school	29.4%	70.6%
Some college	28.7%	71.3%
Bachelor's degree	33.4%	66.6%
Post-graduate	28.0%	72.0%

Lifetime partners	Alpha	Beta
1	20.3%	79.7%
2-5	29.3%	70.7%
6-10	26.7%	73.3%
11-20	29.6%	70.4%
21+	34.6%	65.4%

Unfortunately, belief in God and wordsum scores were not cross-referenced with the question, so church attendance and educational attainment are about the closest proxies available. Speaking of, betas are slightly more educated than alphas are, but the differences are minor.

Excepting that, they are fairly pronounced. Alphas are disproportionately non-white (especially black), non-religious, unmarried, liberal, Democratic, childless, bar-goers who have been with a lot of women--in short, the glue that holds Western Civilization together! The good news for the ladies is that demographic trends portend more alphas and fewer betas in the future. Tingle tingle!

GSS variables used: AGAPE1, RACECEN(1)(2)(3-16), SEX(1), PARTYID(0-2)(3)(4-6), POLVIEWS(1-3)(4)(5-7), CHILDS(0)(1-8), EDUC(0-11)(12)(13-15)(16-17)(18-20), MARITAL(1)(2-5), NUMWOMEN(1)(2-5)(6-10)(11-20)(21-800), SOCBAR(1-4)(5-7), ATTEND(0)(1-3)(4-6)(7-8)