Sociology
The Demographic Causes and Consequences of Son Preference in East Asia
Quick fact
In the 1990s, South Korea's sex ratio at birth reached as high as 116 boys per 100 girls, far above the natural baseline of about 105, and although it has since normalized, China and other parts of East Asia still show significant imbalances.
Why this is interesting
In several East Asian countries, the natural balance of boys to girls at birth has been tipped—so much that there are tens of millions of 'missing women' in the population. Why would families deliberately prefer sons, and what happens to a society that has many more men than women?