This article investigates the theory that gossip, as a method of obtaining information and creating a meaningful social environment, increases in importance with society complexity. Forms of gossip in highly "modernized" societies, which are rare in the cross-cultural sample, are discussed. In addition, the authors explore associations between gender autonomy and the importance of gossip.

This article investigates the theory that gossip, as a method of obtaining information and creating a meaningful social environment, increases in importance with society complexity. Forms of gossip in highly "modernized" societies, which are rare in the cross-cultural sample, are discussed. In addition, the authors explore associations between gender autonomy and the importance of gossip.

This article investigates the theory that gossip, as a method of obtaining information and creating a meaningful social environment, increases in importance with society complexity. Forms of gossip in highly "modernized" societies, which are rare in the cross-cultural sample, are discussed. In addition, the authors explore associations between gender autonomy and the importance of gossip.

This article investigates the theory that gossip, as a method of obtaining information and creating a meaningful social environment, increases in importance with society complexity. Forms of gossip in highly "modernized" societies, which are rare in the cross-cultural sample, are discussed. In addition, the authors explore associations between gender autonomy and the importance of gossip.

Grooming of conspecifics is thought to play an important social role among nonhuman primates, but the function and relative importance of such grooming among humans is unknown. Here the authors compare time spent grooming and conversing among six small-scale societies with grooming data from 69 nonhuman primate species. They test the hypothesis that conversation evolved among humans as an alternative way to obtain the social benefits (such as building and maintaining social alliances) of grooming in large groups.

Textor summarizes cross-cultural findings on polygyny pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.

This study examines relationships among the instruction of children, household type and size, and political integration. Particular attention is paid to type of instruction--whether the instructor is kin or non-kin, and whether the instruction requires a change in the child's residence. Different types of instruction are theorized to solve problems for children in different household types (e.g. children in mother-child households experience gender identity conflict, and so leave their houses for instruction from non-kin). The causality between instruction and societal complexity is also discussed.

This article suggests a theory of the relationship between rules of descent and polity structure. The author suggests that “polity structure in stateless societies is a consequence of the presence or absence of cohesive factions based on lineage or family” (301). Two types of kinship ties produce different polity structures: cross-cutting ties, common in matrilineal societies, lead to political consensus; overlapping ties, common in patrilineal societies, lead to factionalism. Empirical tests support this theory.

This article examines several possible correlates of the couvade. Results suggest that father presence, rather than the expected father absence, is significantly associated with the couvade.

This paper examines relationships among mode of production, sedentarism, and population size. Generally, agricultural societies were found to be sedentary and have larger populations, while migratory societies (such as herders or hunters) had smaller population size.