This study examines sex differences in alcohol consumption, suggesting that they are related to a nomadic or rural settlement, low accumulation of food resources, and strong child training pressure toward achievement. The authors suggest that societal norms often limit drunkenness in women because women's responsibilities (such as childcare) would deter incapacity due to intoxication.

This article examines a hypothesis that associates alcoholism with the structure and quality of social norms related to drinking. Analysis yields little support for this hypothesis, but the amount of alcohol consumed by members of the society emerges as an important predictive variable. A new theory of alcoholism that takes this variable into account is discussed.

This study examines a hypothesis that ceremonial drinking is negatively associated with heavy secular drinking. Empirical analysis does not support this association, and the author proposes an alternative theory of alcohol consumption and the problem of evil. Hypotheses relating alcohol consumption to menstrual taboos and the uses of blood in society are supported.

This article examines cultural variation in alcoholism with a particular focus on the role of imperialist contact. Cultural prohibition of alcohol and child-rearing variables are also considered. Several hypotheses are supported.

This study explores cultural variables associated with frequency of drunkenness and ceremonial drinking. Particular attention was paid to childhood socialization variables, as well as politcal and social organization. Results show a low correlation between frequency of drunkenness and frequency of ceremonial drinking, and various other variables are associated with each.

This book chapter (4) follows up suggestions from a previous chapter (3) by McClelland et.al. that in non-solidary societies heavy drinking is associated with conflict about personal power and alcohol provides a way of acting out impulses aimed at impacting others. Support was found for this theory using an analysis of words in folktales.

This book chapter builds on Horton's 1943 psychoanalytical study of drunkenness. The author tests an overall theory that drunkenness, which facilitates personal and uninhibited interactions, is more acceptable, and therefore prevalent, in societies with loose, rather than rigid, social relationships. Indicators of social rigidity, such as strict socialization or male dominance through patrilocality, are tested for relationships to drunkenness.

This book chapter tests new and pre-existing theories (Horton, Field, Bacon et al.) for the cause of variation in drinking across cultures. Folktale content is used to test psychological variables more directly than has been done previously. Folktale content is analyzed programmatically with an acknowledged error level of up to one-third. Results lend support to Field's 1962 theory that loose social organization facilitates drinking.

This study investigates the time-hardened question of whether alcohol had any role in the evolution of complex societies, aka the “drunk’ hypothesis. Although indigenous alcoholic beverages are found in about 50% of societies around the world largely excluding native North America and Oceania, low-alcohol fermented drinks have been known to aid in social cohesion, maintaining political ties (through feasting), and rituals. While it is clear alcohol is not a direct indicator of social complexity, when controlling for agriculture and other major factors, the relationship between the two is significant.

This chapter offers an exploratory study that examines the relationships between several culture characterstics, including child socialization practices, social structure, and food production, and mind-altering drug use in non-literate societies. All hypotheses were supported.