This article examines causes of political participation in pre-industrial societies, particularly the level of resources and organization of resources. Hirschman’s concepts of exit, voice, and loyalty are also discussed. A distinction is made between range of community decision-making and the degree of adult involvement. Results from a multiple regression analysis favor the more structural variables (i.e. organization of resources) in the prediction of political participation.

This article examines structural and dispositional explanations for complexity of political institutions. Analysis suggests that both socioeconomic organization and socialization variables are useful in understanding the concentration, specialization, and centralization of political power, but socioeconomic organization variables have stronger associations.

This paper explores societal-level mechanisms associated with women’s participation in and exclusion from political life. Analysis suggests there are two statistically independent types of female political participation: involvement in decision-making and the existence of positions controlled by or reserved for women. Multiple regression analysis identifies several social-structural, psychocultural, and behavioral correlates for both types of female political participation and explanatory theory is discussed.

This article examines the variation in color naming and susceptibility to visual illusions cross-culturally. Results suggest a geographic patterning of color naming and illusion susceptibility which parallels the distribution of eye pigmentation.

This study tests various theories on conflict. Multiple regression analyses are presented and support is given for the psychocultural perspective.

A general theory of conflict and violence provides a framework for understanding the relationship between internal and external political conflict and the conditions under which they are connected. This study draws on a cross-cultural sample of 90 preindustrial societies, assessing whether these two forms of conflict covary and identifies the social factors that shape their associations. Using a multiple regression analysis reveals a moderate positive relationship overall, but the strength and nature of these relationships depend on specific societal characteristics. Societies in which internal and external conflict can occur and fall together display remarkedly different patterns of cross-cutting ties compared to those in which the two forms operate independently. Structural features of social organization emerge as key determinants of whether aggression is directed inward, outward, or both. In contrast, dispositional (psychocultural) traits are strong predictors of overall conflict levels but do not distinguish between internal and external targets. Together, these findings showcases the importance of integrating structural and dispositional factors in explaining patterns of political violence.

This article studied the effects of common law in Sub-Saharan Africa on property rights of women and its relationship to intimate partner violence. The authors first compared intimate partner violence (IPV) in 593 ethnic groups with a separate marital property regime against groups with a community marital property regime. Then, the authors examined the correlation between women who justify IPV and the presence of a separate marital property regime. They found that separate marital property both increased the likelihood of intimate partner violence and the justification of IPV when compared to a community property regime. The authors use these findings to advocate for marital property rights reform to help reduce partner violence cases.

After noticing that recent archaeological research has found evidence that women in pre-history were probably hunters, the authors use the ethnographic record from 63 foraging populations to explore the role of women in hunting. They explore what proportion of societies expect women to contribute to hunting, if women hunt, what proportion was opportunistic or intentional, whether women hunters were skilled, and whether women hunted with children.

Given that research on female political representation tends to be overlooked across many societies, this study investigates whether historical female political leadership influences contemporary female political representation in Africa. The authors hypothesize that precolonial traditions of women in leadership persist in shaping present-day representation. Using two original datasets—one from cross-cultural samples and one from previous elections—they find that ethnic groups with histories of female leaders have more women elected today, with results also show that many institutional factors have shaped women’s traditional political roles, and that the effects of historical colonialism have reversed much of their influence. The conclusion is that historical female leadership continues to affect modern representation, though shaped by institutional change.

Cultures vary widely in regards to beauty standards for female body fat: while industrialized nations typically prefer thinness in women, ethnographic reports indicate that plumpness is valued in many small-scale societies. Here the authors evaluate several hypotheses that relate variation in female body fat preference to variation in socioecology such as food storage, climate, male social dominance, valuation and restriction of women's work, and female stress during adolescence.