This study reexamines Durkheim’s theory of social integration and suicide and tests for an association in a cross-cultural sample of pre-literate societies. Contrary to Durkheim’s theory, the author finds that suicide varies inversely with both social and religious integration. Results also suggested that suicide is negatively associated with a society’s ritual activity. Overall it is suggested that alienated persons in highly integrated societies will be at a greater risk of suicide than those in less integrated societies.

This study tests for an association between suicide rates and cultural fear of the dead. Tests do not support a significant relationship.

Authors suggest that suicide is more likely to occur in contexts where an individual's social ties are threatened, weakened, or broken, causing social dislocation (thwarting-disorientation contexts). Results support this hypothesis.

Authors examine suicidality within small-scale non-industrial societies. They use ethnographic data to test two models: deCatanzaro's inclusive fitness model and the bargaining model (suicide attempts as a costly signal of need). Limited support is found for deCatanzaro's inclusive fitness model while strong support is found for the bargaining model. Support for deCatanzaro's inclusive fitness model increased with increasing latitude; authors suggest that in climactically-harsher environments, in which elderly or infirm individuals may impose a higher burden on kin, completed suicide occurs more because it might increase inclusive fitness. Fit of and support for each model were differentially age-dependent.

Using experimental methods, these researchers evaluated the function of pride in ten small-scale societies by testing personal pride’s association with valuation by the surrounding community. Their aim was to see if findings from western(-ized), educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies replicate in non-WEIRD societies. Simple linear regression in each society indicates that the amount of pride one feels for a given action closely matches how highly others in the same community value the action. Authors conclude support for the universality of the pride system.

The researchers examine associations between male status and various measures of reproductive success among foraging/non-foraging, and monogamous/polygynous societies in order to test the "egalitarian hypothesis" which predicts lower status effects in hunter-gatherer groups. Contrary to this hypothesis, they find that male social status is equally significantly associated with reproductive success in foraging and nonforaging societies. Additional support is found for the "mating effort" hypothesis, which predicts that male reproductive success will be more associated with fertility than offspring mortality in polygynous societies, leading the authors to make various suggestions regarding the evolutionary mechanisms at play.

Rootman tests a formulation of Durkheim's (1897) theory of suicide. Independent variables include the amount a society, group, or social condition is integrated or regulated.

This paper tests assumptions regarding the inverse relationship between murder and suicide. Analysis suggests that murder and suicide in fact vary together, and they are also positively associated with overall punishment in a society.

This study used data from the Afrobarometer Survey to compare the cultures of 85 ethnolinguistic groups from 25 African countries on markers of cultural modernization and emancipation, such as attitudes towards gender equality, xenophobia, and the role of religion in society. The study found that nearly all of the ethnolinguistic groups studied within a country clustered together in terms of their attitudes towards cultural modernization. The study also found that the variation between nations was often greater than the variation between ethnolinguistic groups, and that the cultural differences between ethnolinguistic groups within a nation were highly correlated with economic indicators such as GDP per person, employment in agriculture and the service sector, and phone subscriptions per person. The study suggests that economic development and modernization lead to cultural homogenization within a nation and a decreasing relevance of ethnolinguistic culture.

This study examines the relationship between social complexity and frequency of suicide. Empirical analysis suggests a positive association between these variables. The author discusses the usefulness of Durkheimian and thwarting disorientation theories in interpreting the findings.