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

"[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)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
GammaSupportedabove .10-.05UNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Familial ComplexityDependentNuclear Family
Index Of DifferentiationIndependentSociocultural Trends

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"Familial complexity cross tabulated with . . . subsistence complexity shows . . .substantial curvilinearity or nonmonotonicity" (906)
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"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)
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)
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)
Schaefer, James MichaelNaroll's Social Development Index, Freeman's Scale, and Marsh's Index of Differentiation tend to measure the same developmental variable in ranking social complexity.