This article "focuses on internal relationships in the organization of polygynous systems." The author presents new codes for polygyny and tests hypotheses regarding "complexes" of polygynous variables: wealth-increasing polygyny and sororal polygyny. It is asserted that polygyny is produced by a variety of factors and circumstances, and that regional historical, demographic, and ecological forces require attention in order to understand its acceptance and practice.

This article uses two dependent variables: acceptance of polygyny (the rules) and and the percentage of women in polygynous marriages (the behavior). The rules of marriage are best predicted by social structural variables (e.g. warfare, fraternal interest groups) whereas actual marriage behaviors are best predicted by economic and ecological variables (e.g. climate zone). Deemphasizing exclusively reproductive or economic explanations for polygyny, the authors find polygyny is related to male-oriented kin groups, territorial expansion and migration, and marrying war captives. Polygyny is thus thought to have a stratifying effect on women and is ultimately a detriment to female status.

This article discusses constraints on role behavior that affect the division of labor, focusing on women’s childcare responsibilities, the nature of production sequences, and occupational specialization. The authors employ entailment analysis to examine 50 activities; results suggest three findings: 1) men are more likely to be assigned tasks that require travel and exposure to danger, 2) men are more likely to perform tasks that are early in the production sequence, and 3) if women perform a task at an early stage of production, they are more likely to perform subsequent tasks.

This article investigates whether external warfare, intercommunity trade, and female exogamy lead to more amicable intercommunity relationships. Intercommunity amicability is considered a historical facilitator of the large-scale integration of human groups. The absence of internal warfare is used as a measure for intercommunity amicability.

Authors Michael Burton and Douglas White present and test an ecological model for the process of agricultural intensification that aims to explain variance in (and the reduction in) female contribution to agriculture. The model synthesizes and expands upon findings put forth by previous studies in order to create a more comprehensive design. Results suggest that the strongest predictors of female contribution to agriculture are the number of dry months, the importance of domesticated animals to subsistence, and the use of the plow in farming. Crop type, although a weaker predictor, is also supported.

This study presents a model of sexual division of labor using entailment analysis that accounts for distance of the task away from home and danger of the task. Results support the notion that childbirth and nursing are the main constraints on the sexual division of labor and that men tend to be allocated tasks that are more distant and dangerous.

This study employs optimal scaling analysis to examine change in subsistence economy in a cross-cultural sample of 73 societies. Findings are discussed in addition to methodological considerations for sampling.