Stark attempts to resituate Tylor's formulation of religion by calling into question Swanson's (1960) and Peregrine's (1996) findings that supernatural sanctions and moral behavior are consistently correlated in small-scale societies. Positing that Swanson's correlations were confounded by variables related to cultural complexity, Stark tests the association of presence of moralizing Gods with cultural complexity explicitly, as well as measures of morality in various nations as provided by the World Values Survey (1990-1991). The robust correlations across cultures noted below, as well as cross-national findings, provide support for the researcher's theory that it is particular conceptions of God rather than participation in rites and rituals which empower religion to sustain complex moral culture.

Using principal-components analysis, the author develops an Index of Sociocultural Development that measures the same concepts as Carneiro’s Index of Cultural Accumulation. Carneiro’s index also contains a measure of cultural elaboration which the author suggests examining further.

Using empirical data and statistical methodology, Gouldner and Peterson aim to identify fundamental dimensions across societies, examine the relationships among these dimensions, and evaluate their importance. Data analysis is largely based on factor analysis, and the authors discuss how statistical methods fit into functional social theory.

This chapter examines the variables that favor restrictive premarital sex norms. Findings indicate that subsistence economy, technology, population size, political integration, belief in a high god, and residence are all correlated with premarital sex norms.

This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.

This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.

This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.

Languages and weaving methods are passed down generation to generation, allowing both of them to have relatively clear phylogenies. These researchers use a Bayesian approach with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to uncover similar but independent phylogenies for Kra-Dai languages and weaving technologies. Evolutionary differences between the two are most likely due to different rates of change: smooth change (language) and periods of burst and stasis (weaving). This study found that language phylogenies were not efficient at predicting phylogenies of technologies.

Languages and weaving methods are passed down generation to generation, allowing both of them to have relatively clear phylogenies. These researchers use a Bayesian approach with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to uncover similar but independent phylogenies for Kra-Dai languages and weaving technologies. Evolutionary differences between the two are most likely due to different rates of change: smooth change (language) and periods of burst and stasis (weaving). This study found that language phylogenies were not efficient at predicting phylogenies of technologies.

Languages and weaving methods are passed down generation to generation, allowing both of them to have relatively clear phylogenies. These researchers use a Bayesian approach with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to uncover similar but independent phylogenies for Kra-Dai languages and weaving technologies. Evolutionary differences between the two are most likely due to different rates of change: smooth change (language) and periods of burst and stasis (weaving). This study found that language phylogenies were not efficient at predicting phylogenies of technologies.