This study tests a cultural materialist theory for variation in concepts of the afterlife. Results suggest that subsistence production (a measure of infrastructure) is associated with a judgmental (rather than non-judgmental) form of individual eschatology. Regional distribution is examined and a logistic regression is presented.

The author hypothesizes that the level of disruption caused by a cargo cult varies directly with the degree to which indigenous people become separated from the agents of Western culture directly prior to the cult outbreak. Results support this hypothesis.

This study examines the relationship between political participation and warfare, suggesting that checks on power, removal of leaders, extent of political participation, and absence of fission will be negatively associated with the frequency of warfare. This hypothesis was supported with empirical analysis.

Researchers examine ethnographic literature from Africa and Colombia and conduct interviews in 12 Colombian cities with the aim of exploring the connection between female genital modification (FGMo) in Colombia and Africa. They theorize that the trans-atlantic slave trade was the start of sociocultural transmission of FGMo pratices to Colombia, and that this will be evident based on the presence of FGMo practices and the composition and connectivity of populations.

In this article, the authors reconsider the polygyny threshold model in order to account for the "polygyny paradox." This paradox, as the authors define it, is the trend away from polygyny as societies adopt stratified agricultural economies. This is despite an increase in both the importance of material wealth and greater leaves of wealth inequality both of which would otherwise suggest increased polygyny. The authors develop a new model that does account for this paradox.

This study explores predictors of variation in two dimensions of marital residence patterns among hunter-gatherers: 1) the tendency toward patrilocality versus matrilocality and 2) the tendency toward unilocality versus bilocality.

The present research investigates food sharing and labor sharing practices of 98 nonindustrial societies. The aims are to: 1) document the frequency and scope of sharing, and 2) test the theory that greater sharing is adaptive in societies subject to more resource stress (including natural hazards).

This article uses the Standard Cross-Cultural Samples to test the relationship between disease and economic growth among sub-Saharan African societies. The authors suggest that a higher disease prevalence limits social integration and economic development since pre-colonial times. The variable measuring economic growth is the complexity of large or impressive structures. The hypotheses are that 1) pathogen stress is negatively correlated to the presence of complex buildings, and 2) pathogen stress is positively correlated to increased ethnic diversity. The results support both hypotheses, and there are additional results, like 1) the negative correlation between pathogen stress and current income per capita and 2) the negative correlation between the increased ethnic diversity and current income per capita. Overall, this article shows the robust relationship between disease and economic development.

This study relates the type of games present in a society to the level of cultural complexity. Authors use a "game-type combination scale" that categorizes societies as having: 1) games of physical skill only; 2) games of physical skill and games of chance; and 3) games of physical skill, games of chance, and games of strategy. Results show a relationship between the game-type combination scale and indicators of cultural complexity.

This article considers the consequences of modernization. Factor analysis is used to identify four stages of modernization: 1) changes in education, government, and trade; 2) changes in health, technology, and transportation; 3) changes in family, religion, and toilet; and 4) changes in behavior. The authors then consider five trends they expect to be associated with modernization and test whether they develop over the course of the four stages. Results indicate that these 5 trends—increased cultural complexity, female status, pacification, suicide, and social stress—are associated with only the first and fourth stages.