Dwarven Demographics

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I would put their lack of Numenorean-esque "Imperialism" down to they pretty much wanted to be left alone to their underground halls and mining. Imperialism requires a certain hubris that means "my particular race is superior to yours and you should therefor adapt our customs/ways of life, because your ways are inferior." This is exemplified in the Numenoreans who believed they were the superior race of Men and were bringing "light and teaching" to all other men.

Yes, this is exactly it. They could have had a very 'masculine' society without ever feeling the need to wage war and conquer other lands. As shown, they were more than willing to defend their own territory and to defend themselves, but they did not have the impetus to attack in order to gain more room.

And facetiously, Middle-earth is actually quite big in the first place, not much competition

Dwarves seem to have directed their masculine drive into the pursuit of finding more wealth, crafting better goods and trading more stuff. Which is in itself an incredibly male thing to do.