Societal complexity and familial complexity: evidence for the curvilinear hypothesis

American Journal of Sociology • Vol/Iss. 77 • Published In • Pages: 898-920 •
By Blumberg, Rae Lesser, Winch, Robert F.

Hypothesis

"We find a curvilinear relationship . . . between familial complexity and each of the four aspects of . . . societal complexity . . . mean size of local community, permanence of settlement, stratification, and . . . levels of jurisdictional hierarchy" (907, 908, 909)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
GammaSupportedp<.001.30UNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Familial ComplexityDependentNuclear Family
Jurisdictional HierarchyIndependentJudicial Authority
Mean Size Of Local CommunityIndependentSettlement Patterns
Permanence Of SettlementIndependentSettlement Patterns
StratificationIndependentSocial Stratification

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"When technology, as measured by subsistence economy is held constant . . . [and we] cross tabulate familial complexity with . . . [permanence of settlement and with stratification] . . . correlations [are] nonsignificant . . . at all levels of technology" (909)
Bourguignon, ErikaTrance types will be associated with societal characteristics (47-68).
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"When technology, as measured by subsistence economy is held constant . . . [and we] cross tabulate familial complexity with . . . size of community . . . [and with] political complexity, gammas are significantly positive for low levels of technology and nonsignificant for higher levels" (909)
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"[For] a strong test of our curvilinear hypothesis we . . . applied [Marsh's Index of Differentiation], a single societal complexity measure . . . to [familial complexity] covering the range . . . from hunting and gathering to modern urban-industrial" (918)
Johnson, Dominic D.P.In a multiple regression model, presence of high gods will be positively associated with money and credit, credit source, community size, jurisdictional hierarchy beyond the local community, and sanctions (426).