The authors review and provide an alternative to Levi-Strauss's theory on unilateral cross-cousin marriage. Levi-Strauss theorized that matrilateral cross-cousin marriage (males marrying their maternal uncles' daughters) occurs more than the patrilateral form because the former promotes more "roundabout" woman-giving and overall social solidarity. He also states that the form of cross-cousin marriage does not depend on kinship linearity. In contrast, the present authors hypothesize that, among societies with unilateral cross-cousin marriage, patrilineal societies will have matrilateral cross-cousin marriage and matrilineal societies will have the patrilateral form. To justify their prediction, the authors point to the close, informal relationships fostered between males and their maternal uncles in patrilineal societies and between males and their paternal aunts in matrilineal societies.

How does the use of corporal punishment or physical discipline of children vary across hunter-gatherer and agro-pastoralist societies? Through a comparative analysis of 139 egalitarian and agrarian cultures, the author finds that 1. The use of corporal punishment against children is higher in agrarian societies than in hunter-gatherer societies, where it is absent or infrequently practiced, and 2. This difference in the use of corporal punishment is correlated with cultural parental attitudes, such as affection towards children, indulgence in children’s behavior, responsiveness to children’s needs, children’s autonomy, and father involvement. Low corporal punishment generally is related to more affection, higher indulgence, more autonomy of children, and higher father presence. The relationships are much stronger in agrarian societies.

This article examines the universal tendency for languages, regardless of their historical relationships, to develop similar words for mother and father on the basis of nursery forms. Findings suggest that Ma, Na, Pa, and Ta are significantly more common sound classes denoting the mother or father.

This article investigates factors influencing the division of labor by gender, including occupation specialization, the type of material labor involves, the presence of the plow, nomadism, and the advantage that a product may yield to either sex. Hypotheses are widely supported.

This article investigates residence, descent rules, and family structure. Empirical analysis suggests that they are associated with settlement patterns, particularly economic and demographic variables.

This article tests hypotheses put forth by Murdock that female contribution to subsistence is associated with matrilocal residence.

This study examines relationships between subsistence type, population size, and sedentarism. Hunting, gathering, fishing, and herding societies tend to be smaller than horticultural and agricultural societies. Horticulture, agriculture, and fishing societies tend to be more sedentary.

This study examines previous hypotheses concerning kinship terminologies, particularly the development of bifurcate merging. The roles of moieties, exogamy, unilinear kin groupings, unilinear descent, and preferential mating are considered.

This study re-examines patterns of cross-sex kin relationships using new ethnographic data. The author looks specifically at cross-sex kin relationship in relation to marriage rules.

This paper examines the distribution and diffusion of the seven patterns of sibling classifaction given by the author. The author then studies the association between descent and sibling terminology.