This article investigates the relationship between religious practices and the importance of land and family in peasant communities. Results suggest that religious observances are reflective of the dominant concerns of peasant life, such as land inheritance.

This article investigates the relationship between religious practices and the importance of land and family in peasant communities. Results suggest that religious observances are reflective of the dominant concerns of peasant life, such as land inheritance.

Using empirical data and statistical methodology, Gouldner and Peterson aim to identify fundamental dimensions across societies, examine the relationships among these dimensions, and evaluate their importance. Data analysis is largely based on factor analysis, and the authors discuss how statistical methods fit into functional social theory.

The authors of this study integrate recent data with data on ancestral ethnic groups' exposure to the slave trade in order to examine the relationship between this historical exposure and children vaccination status against measles. They find evidence to support their hypothesis that children from mothers whose ancestors belonged to an ethnic group that exported slaves are less likely to be vaccinated against measles, theorizing that this correlation stems from distrust in medical and governmental institutions. Supporting this theory, they also find that groups historically exposed to the slave trade that have higher preference for traditional practices are even less likely to vaccinate their children against measles.

This study tests for an association between suicide rates and cultural fear of the dead. Tests do not support a significant relationship.

Using 57 cultures from the Human Relations Area Files database, this paper examines the function and effectiveness of the belief of punitive ancestors in small-scale societies. The authors found that belief in dangerous ancestral entities is widespread and common and that harm is preventable through ritualized mortuary practices. The authors concluded that the fear of ancestral spirits did not promote social cooperation or inhibit self-interest behavior, contrary to the supernatural punishment hypothesis.

This paper presents tests of the relationships between tropical African agriculture and cultural variables regulating reproduction in order to examine a theory which suggests that the lagging or absence of tropical Africa's demographic transition is the result of pervasive 'pro-natal' cultural practices. Strength of association between these factors and non-plow agriculture, the traditional method of farming in tropical Africa, leads the authors to suggest that women's larger subsistence role in these societies favors extended family households in which child-rearing responsibilities can be shared, and polygynous marriage systems in which co-wives can contribute substantially to the family's labor productivity. These, along with erosion of regulations on postpartum sex and birth spacing which were prevalent prior to modernization, are identified as characterstics which have and will continue to resist fertility decline.

Using 57 cultures from the Human Relations Area Files database, this paper examines the function and effectiveness of the belief of punitive ancestors in small-scale societies. The authors found that belief in dangerous ancestral entities is widespread and common and that harm is preventable through ritualized mortuary practices. The authors concluded that the fear of ancestral spirits did not promote social cooperation or inhibit self-interest behavior, contrary to the supernatural punishment hypothesis.

Using 57 cultures from the Human Relations Area Files database, this paper examines the function and effectiveness of the belief of punitive ancestors in small-scale societies. The authors found that belief in dangerous ancestral entities is widespread and common and that harm is preventable through ritualized mortuary practices. The authors concluded that the fear of ancestral spirits did not promote social cooperation or inhibit self-interest behavior, contrary to the supernatural punishment hypothesis.

This article provides a new explanation of matrilineal inheritence and paternity certainty, suggesting that matrilineal inheritance is most advantageous for women and can be described as a grandmaternal strategy. Results suggest a strong relationship between matrilineal inheritance and moderate to low probability of paternity, and an even stronger relationship between patrilineal inheritance and high probability of paternity.