The authors examine the relationship between magico-religious practitioner type and socioeconomic variables in order to present a typology of magico-religious practitioners. Three bases for magico-religious practitioners are discussed in terms of selection procedures and activities. Several hypotheses are empirically tested, and descriptive generalizations derived from analyses are presented.

The authors examine the relationship between magico-religious practitioner type and socioeconomic variables in order to present a typology of magico-religious practitioners. Three bases for magico-religious practitioners are discussed in terms of selection procedures and activities. Several hypotheses are empirically tested, and descriptive generalizations derived from analyses are presented.

This article examines shamans and other types of magico-religious healers. Agriculture and political integration are suggested to influence the transformation of shamans into shaman/healers, healers, or possession-trance mediums.

The authors examine the relationship between magico-religious practitioner type and socioeconomic variables in order to present a typology of magico-religious practitioners. Three bases for magico-religious practitioners are discussed in terms of selection procedures and activities. Several hypotheses are empirically tested, and descriptive generalizations derived from analyses are presented.

This article examines shamans and other types of magico-religious healers. Agriculture and political integration are suggested to influence the transformation of shamans into shaman/healers, healers, or possession-trance mediums.

This article examines shamans and other types of magico-religious healers. Agriculture and political integration are suggested to influence the transformation of shamans into shaman/healers, healers, or possession-trance mediums.

This article examines shamans and other types of magico-religious healers. Agriculture and political integration are suggested to influence the transformation of shamans into shaman/healers, healers, or possession-trance mediums.

This article examines shamans and other types of magico-religious healers. Agriculture and political integration are suggested to influence the transformation of shamans into shaman/healers, healers, or possession-trance mediums.

The authors examine the relationship between magico-religious practitioner type and socioeconomic variables in order to present a typology of magico-religious practitioners. Three bases for magico-religious practitioners are discussed in terms of selection procedures and activities. Several hypotheses are empirically tested, and descriptive generalizations derived from analyses are presented.

This paper seeks to understand the extent to which religion has been used to legitimize political power in the past, and the extent to which that carries into contemporary institutions. The authors seek to demonstrate that there is a strong link between the stratification of societies in the past and the presence of autocracies in many of those same areas today. They make their case by putting forward, and testing, three linked theories -- first, that stratified societies are more likely to develop religions based on moralizing high gods as a means of divine legitimization, second, that the societies that used religion for legitimacy in their past are more likely to have religion embedded in their institutions today, and third, that societies that used religion for legitimacy in the past are more likely to be autocracies today.