Magico-religious practitioner types and socioeconomic conditions

Cross-Cultural Research • Vol/Iss. 20(1-4) • Sage • • Published In • Pages: 17-46 •
By Winkelman, Michael James

Hypothesis

"Societies with a single practitioner type were generally hunting and gathering societies; while those with two practitioner types always had agriculture as a major mode of subsistence. The societies with three practitioner types present had agricultural or pastoral economies and, with one exception, political integration beyond the local level. Those societies with four practitioner types present had agriculture and political integration beyond the local level and, with one exception, the presence of classes." (37)

Note

Further, the Practitioner Type Configuration variable was independently and significantly correlated with the presence/absence of agriculture, the presence/absence of political integration beyond the local community, and the presence/absence of classes. No significant diffusion effects.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Autocorrelation multiple regressionSupportedmultiple p-valuesmultiple r-valuesUNKNOWN

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Winkelman, Michael James"Mediums occurred in societies with agricultural or pastoral economies, and, with one exception, they occurred only in societies with political integration beyond the local level" (36)
Winkelman, Michael James"All of the Shamans were in nomadic or seminomadic societies, which generally has hunting and gathering economies" (36)..."However, all of the Shaman/Healers were found in societies with agriculture, and almost all of the Healers were found in societies with political integration beyond the local level" (36)
Winkelman, Michael James"Priest practitioners were present only in sedentary societies with a major reliance upon agriculture or pastoralism"(37)
Ember, Melvin"[There is a] relationship between relative importance of agriculture and level of political integration" (243
Winkelman, Michael James"Societies with a single practitioner always has a practitioner from the Healer Complex present, generally a Shaman. Societies with two practitioner types present generally has a Priest and a Shaman/Healer or a functionally equivalent pattern", and societies with three practitioner types present all had a Priest and a member of the Healer Complex, with the third practitioner being either a Malevolent Practitioner or a Medium. "Societies with four practitioners exhibited a single pattern of a...