This article offers a critique of Stover and Hope (1984). Gray challenges their findings and suggests that a third variable, sovereign groups, explains the correlation between monotheism and gender status.

This article offers a critique of Stover and Hope (1984). Gray challenges their findings and suggests that a third variable, sovereign groups, explains the correlation between monotheism and gender status.

This article offers a critique of Stover and Hope (1984). Gray challenges their findings and suggests that a third variable, sovereign groups, explains the correlation between monotheism and gender status.

This article offers a critique of Stover and Hope (1984). Gray challenges their findings and suggests that a third variable, sovereign groups, explains the correlation between monotheism and gender status.

This article contests Underhill’s (1975) claim that monotheism is associated more strongly with subsistence than political organization in preindustrial societies. The author asserts that when political organization is held constant, there is no relationship between subsistence strategy and monotheism. Number of sovereign groups is found to be a good predictor of monotheism.

This article investigates material and social predictors of belief in a high god. The author introduces a new variable, the inertness of subsistence raw materials, to be compared with Swanson’s (1960) variable representing the number of sovereign groups. Both variables were significant predictors of belief in high gods. Relevant theory is discussed.

This article examines height and sexual dimorphism of stature from a sociobiological perspective. Diet, child rearing, and marriage practices are tested as possible factors contributing to height sexual dimorphism of stature. Results provide some support for a nutritional hypotheses, but sexual selection and parental investment are not statistically significant.

This article tests Randall Collin's 1975 theory that political-economic factors, rather than family/kinship factors, predict the degree of sexual stratification in a given society. A multivariate model is tested and findings contradict the theory.

This book investigates the origins of supernatural and religious beliefs. The author tests associations between various types of beliefs (e.g. witchcraft, monotheism) and various societal characteristics (e.g. mobility, class stratification). Many hypotheses are supported. Theoretical discussion is included, and the author posits that “the belief in a particular kind of spirit springs from experiences with a type of persisting sovereign group whose area of jurisdiction corresponds to that attributed to the spirit” (175).

A response to Gray's critique of Hope and Stover's original paper "Monotheism and gender status: a cross-societal study" (1984). The authors address questions regarding their methods. They also counter the suggestion that social complexity acts as an overriding variable to explain the relationship originally found between gender status and religious belief.