This article investigates how superordinate justice (whereby officials can arbitrate disputes involving homicide) and superordinate punishment (whereby officials can punish perpetrators of homicide) affect the level of internal violence in preindustrial societies. Results suggest that these two types of superordinate power do deter violent fatalities but that overall, “in order to increase violence substantively, arbitration authority over killings must be backed up by the power to penalize” (395).

This article explores differences between "tight" cultures ("have many strong norms and low tolerance of deviant behavior") and "loose" cultures ("have weak social norms and high tolerance of deviant behavior"). The tightness-looseness measure manifests in a myriad of macro and micro phenomena, from governance and religiosity to individual psychological processes. This study investigates these phenomena in modern nations rather than traditional societies. Potential ecological, historical, and socio-political predictors of tightness-looseness are also examined.

This study examines costly punishment behavior across cultures. Authors conducted economic games in a variety of societies and found that costly punishment behavior occurs to varied degrees across cultures. Results also suggest that altruistic behavior is associated with costly punishment behavior.

This exploratory study seeks to explain cassava production and processing in Africa by considering cultural, agronomic, and environmental data. After examining the descriptive results of the agricultural and social contexts of cassava use, the authors build upon Boserup's population density model (1965) to analyze their own hypothesized model of cassava's importance among the sampled societies.

This paper discusses a cross-cultural study comparing features of grammatical structure and features of social structure. The author hypothesizes that the language will emphasize "self" with more personal protection within a society.

This paper tests assumptions regarding the inverse relationship between murder and suicide. Analysis suggests that murder and suicide in fact vary together, and they are also positively associated with overall punishment in a society.

This book investigates sanctions for nonmarital conceptions or birth. The author conducts cross-cultural tests for hypotheses derived from a variety of theories. Results do not support one theory over another, but suggest that variables such as sociocultural complexity, family structure, descent, fraternal interest groups, sexual inequality, and child-parent relationships all affect the consequences of illegitimacy.

Authors contend that many of the differences across the 50 states can be attributed to the degree to which social entities are "tight" (have many strongly enforced rules and little tolerance to deviance) or "loose" (have few strongly enforced rules and greater tolerance for deviance). Significant correlations were found between many state characteristics and tightness-looseness.

This article examines the relationship between population size (and complexity) and the level of third-party punishment in economic games. Results demonstrate that people in larger, more complex societies engage in significantly more third-party punishment than people in small-scale societies.

This study investigates the concept of societal complexity, using empirical analysis to test whether its components (written language, government, etc.) vary systematically. Results suggest that societal complexity is a valid composite measure.