This article presents a replication of Somersan's (1984) study of the relationship between death symbolism and descent group. The unsuccessful replication is attributed to sampling error. Codes are included.

This study explores how differences in group autonomy are related to differences in internal group control. Results support the hypothesis and suggest that group autonomy is positively related to the manipulatory potential of the group and the control that the group has over its members.

This dissertation discusses the divided theoretical approach to how reincarnation, animism, spirits, and general religious beliefs occur within societies cross-culturally. Matlock offers evidence to support Tyler, contradicting the generally accepted Durkheimian approach, arguing that the belief about souls and spirits may originate in dreams and other empirical experiences, in turn informing and shaping social organization. Durkheim argued the opposite, claiming that religious beliefs reflect social organization such as the clan and kinship. The author states 33 quantitative hypotheses to be tested using 30 of the first 60 sample societies available in the HRAF Probability Sample.

This study asserts that the structure of work organizations is affected more by production techniques than societal complexity. Empirical analysis suggests two trends: 1) production techniques that increase the importance of workers will influence rationality in work organizations, and 2) production techniques that increase the importance of workers and societal complexity will affect the bureaucratic elements of work organizations approximately equally. These findings challenge Udy’s (1970) thesis that complex peasant societies face more challenges than less complex societies in transitioning to modern industrial work forms.

The author analyzes 440 Sub-Saharan African societies to test whether trade across ecologically diverse zones is predictive of degree of state centralization (state capacity or strength of state) in pre-colonial Africa. The author finds that diverse ecology is predictive of state capacity and that trade supports class stratification. The author also emphasizes the importance of historical contingency and ethnographic data consultation in understanding mechanisms in individual cases.

In this article, the author departs from previous research on common vs. private property ownership predictors to understand why ocean property rights often play out differently than land. As opposed to the dominant hypothesis that common property regimes will change to private property when resources are scarce and population increases, the author proposes economic defendability (the relationship between the value of the property and the cost to defend it) as a better predictor of property regime type.

The author compares three scales of social complexity (Naroll's Social Development Index, Freeman's Scale, and Marsh's Index of Differentiation) and determine whether they tend to measure the same developmental variable. The author's statistical comparisons illustrate that each scale applies the same standard in ranking societies

This study looks at the relationship between cultural complexity and food taboos. Results indicate that less complex societies tend to have more restrictions on eating than more complex societies.

This study tests a broad hypothesis that alcohol is employed to relieve anxiety and feelings of powerlessness. Frequency of drunkenness and drunken brawling were associated with several variables, including supernatural beliefs, political systems, settlement patterns, and division of labor.

This article offers a detailed analysis of neurophysiological processes involved in altered states of consciousness. Cross-cultural hypotheses concerning altered states of consciousness are tested.