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.

Building on previous explorations of grid/group analysis for cross-cultural research (Caulkins 1999), the researchers test for relationships between grid/group variables and measures of social capital among nine North American ethnic groups. The article contributes to a discussion of whether the primary source of economically productive social capital is the general ethnic group ("ethnicity as social capital" hypothesis) or the family unit ("family as social capital" hypothesis), using group, grid, and census data on self-employment as indicators. The authors conclude that their results are consistent with the "family as social capital" hypothesis.

In this article, the researcher aims to test the usefulness of grid/group theory, developed by anthropologist Mary Douglas, for cross-cultural research. The article utilizes principal component factor analysis on grid/group indicators to test if "grid" and "group" can be considered as sufficiently independent factors, and thus useful for quantitative cross-cultural research.

What is the relationship between childhood experiences and adult skills? The authors of this article hypothesize that early learning situations can result in psychological effects which can later be reflected in adult skills. To test this hypothesis, they investigate how specific childhood activities which stimulate gestalt brain development, such as creative games and holistic learning experiences, translate into adult gestalt skills, such as complex representations of their environments and originality of art. Through a systems approach which employs three levels of analysis- neurophysiology, psychology, and anthropology- the authors find that children's games and learning techniques are correlated with adult environmental representation and artistic originality, ultimately supporting their hypothesis.

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.

In this chapter of 'Beyond War,' Douglas critiques previous codes of warfare to make a distinction between feuding and warring. A test of warfare and level of social complexity among hunter-gatherers is conducted. Results indicate that complex hunter-gatherers make war while a majority of simple hunter-gatherers do not.

This chapter includes cross-cultural tests of the relationship between social complexity of hunter-gatherer groups and warfare. Results suggest that more complex and equestrian hunter-gatherer societies tend to be more war-like and less complex hunter gatherer societies tend to be more peaceful.

This article examines the incidence of warfare in mobile forager band societies. Data analysis suggests that the majority of lethal aggression in such societies can be classified as homicide. Feuding is common and warfare a definite minority. The authors offer several reasons why warfare would be uncommon in such societies: residence, descent, subsistence strategy, and social order are all cited.

This book investigates peaceful societies and the social and ecological conditions that discourage war. The author uses ethnographic examples, cross-cultural findings, primatology, and archaeology to examine war, social organization, human evolution, and conflict management.