Societal complexity and familial complexity: evidence for the curvilinear hypothesis

American Journal of Sociology • Vol/Iss. 77 • Published In • Pages: 898-920 •
By Blumberg, Rae Lesser, Winch, Robert F.

Hypothesis

"[For] a strong test of our curvilinear hypothesis we . . . applied [Marsh's Index of Differentiation], a single societal complexity measure . . . to [familial complexity] covering the range . . . from hunting and gathering to modern urban-industrial" (918)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
GammaSupportedabove .10-.05UNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Familial ComplexityDependentNuclear Family
Index Of DifferentiationIndependentSociocultural Trends

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"Familial complexity cross tabulated with . . . subsistence complexity shows . . .substantial curvilinearity or nonmonotonicity" (906)
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"We find a curvilinear relationship . . . between familial complexity and each of the four aspects of . . . societal complexity . . . mean size of local community, permanence of settlement, stratification, and . . . levels of jurisdictional hierarchy" (907, 908, 909)
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"When technology, as measured by subsistence economy is held constant . . . [and we] cross tabulate familial complexity with . . . size of community . . . [and with] political complexity, gammas are significantly positive for low levels of technology and nonsignificant for higher levels" (909)
Blumberg, Rae Lesser"When technology, as measured by subsistence economy is held constant . . . [and we] cross tabulate familial complexity with . . . [permanence of settlement and with stratification] . . . correlations [are] nonsignificant . . . at all levels of technology" (909)
Schaefer, James MichaelNaroll's Social Development Index, Freeman's Scale, and Marsh's Index of Differentiation tend to measure the same developmental variable in ranking social complexity.