This article investigates a broad hypothesis that cultural traits diversify with sociocultural development. Results suggest that sociocultual development is associated with certain aspects of aesthetic and ritual culture, and that cultural elaboration may be correlated with some sexual norms and tendency toward cannibalism, human sacrifice, and slavery.

This article investigates a broad hypothesis that cultural traits diversify with sociocultural development. Results suggest that sociocultual development is associated with certain aspects of aesthetic and ritual culture, and that cultural elaboration may be correlated with some sexual norms and tendency toward cannibalism, human sacrifice, and slavery.

This article proposes three stages of slavery: dominance slavery, temporary decline of slavery, and economic slavery. Dominance slavery refers to the enslavement of war captives while economic slavery entails a legally codified slave class in a more economically stratified society. Mann-Whitney summed-rank tests suggest that economic slavery is associated with higher socioeconomic development, here defined in terms of male-dominance rather than equidominance in a society.

This article proposes three stages of slavery: dominance slavery, temporary decline of slavery, and economic slavery. Dominance slavery refers to the enslavement of war captives while economic slavery entails a legally codified slave class in a more economically stratified society. Mann-Whitney summed-rank tests suggest that economic slavery is associated with higher socioeconomic development, here defined in terms of male-dominance rather than equidominance in a society.

This article proposes three stages of slavery: dominance slavery, temporary decline of slavery, and economic slavery. Dominance slavery refers to the enslavement of war captives while economic slavery entails a legally codified slave class in a more economically stratified society. Mann-Whitney summed-rank tests suggest that economic slavery is associated with higher socioeconomic development, here defined in terms of male-dominance rather than equidominance in a society.

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.

This chapter explores and tests some propositions about matrilineal societies. Supplementary to that discussion, the author also explores the problems of method associated with the use of coded data on large samples of cultures.

Factor analysis is employed to examine variables related to alcohol consumption. Hypotheses related to the integration of drinking, inebriety, aggression while intoxicated, and quantity of drinking are examined.

Dozens of reasons have been proposed for the emergence of professional religious specialists in human history with little general consensus. Creating a global dataset of hunter-gatherers and using a novel method of exploratory phylogenetic path analysis, this study systematically identifies factors associated with the emergence of religious specialists. Results regarding existential insecurity were generally not supported. This study emphasizes the role of food storage as one of the only significant factors despite that it has been largely overlooked in the literature and theories. The results also highlight the need for more in-depth directional dependencies to better illustrate this evolution.

This study examines the patterns in associations between cultural traits. Factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analyses were employed to identify various dimensions of culture. Regional patterns and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.