This paper seeks to understand how the conflict resolution strategies of indigenous and non-indigenous groups differ in their efficacy. The authors suggest that indigenous methods of conflict resolution are more effective than non-indigenous methods by demonstrating that subjects from the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) associated with indigenous conflict management (ICM) will co-occur less frequently with OCM terms related to conflict than subjects related to non-ICM. They tested this by selecting OCM subjects that they felt best represented ICM, non-ICM, and instances of conflict and using chi-square tests to show how often these subjects co-occurred. They subsequently split up the "conflict" variable into four forms of conflict in order to show whether any of these forms might be more frequently found associated with ICM or non-ICM subjects. The results showed that conflict subjects were more likely to co-occur with non-ICM subjects, and that sociocultural/interpersonal conflicts were more likely to be associated with ICM subjects, whereas political conflicts were more likely to be associated with non-ICM subjects.

This study investigates the relationship between historical utilization of the plow and modern sex ratios. The authors argue that in societies without the plow subsistence is generally egalitarian with both men and women contributing. However, the use of the plow requires more physical strength which, they argue, leads to a preference for boys and, thus, men. Therefore, in cultures that use the plow, this is reflected in male-biased sex ratios which are negotiated by way of practices like sex-selective abortions, infanticide, and/or differential access to resources based on sex.

The researchers examine Boserup's (1970) theory that variation in traditional agricultural practices shape gender roles by examining the relationship between historical plough use and contemporary fertility rates and preferential attitudes towards fertility. Contrary to expectation, tests show a negative relationship between plough use and both of these variables. The authors theorize that since children are less capable of performing the intensive labor required by plough agriculture compared to hoe agriculture, adoption of the plough deincentivized increased fertility and reduced its value among agriculturalists.

There is considerable variation both within and across societies in attitudes towards female employment outside of the household. In some societies, the dominant belief is that women should have equal opportunity to work outside the home, while in others women are strongly discouraged from working outside of the domestic sphere. Here the authors use pre-industrial ethnographic data and contemporary observations of gender inequality to test the hypothesis that cultural attitudes regarding the appropriateness of women working outside of the household are rooted in the ancestral adoption of plough cultivation. Contemporary measures of gender inequality assess variation across countries, ethnic groups, and individuals.

This paper proposes that the socio-cultural values of countries may be associated with increased mortality due to COVID-19. Using results from the World Values survey, the author assessed which values had the strongest association with a change in COVID-19 mortality in datasets consisting of all countries, upper-middle and high income economies, upper-middle income economies, high income economies, and advanced economies. The author also sought to determine whether the WVS values that were associated with COVID-19 mortality were also associated with general life expectancy. The results showed that COVID-19 mortality was increased in countries that placed a higher value on freedom of speech, political participation, religion, technocracy, post-materialism, social tolerance, law and order, and acceptance of authority. On the other hand, mortality was decreased in countries with high trust in major companies and institutions and that endorsed maintenance of order as a goal for a country. The author also found that values related to COVID-19 mortality did not predict general health outcomes, and that some values that predicted increased COVID-19 mortality actually predicted decreased mortality from other outcomes.

The authors of this study globally test the culture of honor hypothesis, which proposes that societies with traditional herding practices developed value systems that encourage revenge and violence. Because their livelihood depends on a mobile asset, herders are more vulnerable to theft and may be more likely to turn to violence or aggressiveness to defend their animals. The authors found dependence on herding to be significantly associated with both past and contemporary conflict and punishment.

The “culture of honor” hypothesis holds that subsistence strategies relying more heavily on pastoralism tend to encourage the development of moral frameworks centered on honor and revenge. This study uses ethnographic data from the Ethnographic Atlas and other sources to investigate morality among the descendants of pastoralists, who may have been raised in similar cultural settings but have not necessarily experienced the material realities of pastoralism firsthand. It finds that descendants of pastoralists continue to exhibit a high emphasis on retaliation and revenge in civil and non-civil conflicts, and in their historical folklore.

This study takes an evolutionary approach to understanding cultural development. The author suggests that "the degree of regularity in the relative order of development of any two traits is directly proportional to the evolutionary distance between them." Scale analysis supports this proposition.

The purpose of the present study is to provide insight on the debate concerning how best to organize societies: with more freedom (looseness) or with more constraint (tightness). In a comparison of 32 nations, Harrington, Boski, and Gelfand examine the relationship between tightness/looseness and three dimensions of societal well-being: psychosocial, health, and political/economic outcomes. Findings indicate that excessive constraint and/or freedom contribute to poorer psychosocial, health, and economic/political outcomes, as well as overall national-level well-being. These results suggest that a balance of freedom and constraint is associated with optimal societal well-being.

In this article, the authors explore cultural variables that they propose contribute to the maintenance of peace in non-warring societies. These variables are compared in 16 peaceful systems (as coded by the authors from anthropological and historical data) and in 30 warring societies taken from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). Findings associate more peaceful cultures with peace systems, and non-peaceful cultures with warring societies.