Societies within peace systems avoid war and build positive intergroup relationships

Humanities & Social Sciences Communications • Vol/Iss. 8(17) • Springer Nature • • Published In • Pages: 1-9 •
By Fry, Douglas P., Souillac, Geneviève, Liebovitch, Larry, Coleman, Peter T., Agan, Kane, Nicholson-Cox, Elliot, Mason, Dani, Gomez, Frank Palma, Strauss, Susie

Abstract

In this article, the authors explore cultural variables that they propose contribute to the maintenance of peace in non-warring societies. These variables are compared in 16 peaceful systems (as coded by the authors from anthropological and historical data) and in 30 warring societies taken from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). Findings associate more peaceful cultures with peace systems, and non-peaceful cultures with warring societies.

Note

In addition to empirical testing, cultural variables associated with peaceful societies were also ranked using a machine learning program called Random Forest.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Standard Cross Cultural Sample (SCCS)Researcher's own
Ethnographic ReportsResearcher's own

Hypotheses (4)

HypothesisSupported
Peace-related cultural variables will be positively correlated with each other.Partially supported (21 of 28 combinations supported)
Peace-related cultural variables will be negatively correlated with war-related variablesPartially supported (13 of 32 combinations supported)
Peace-related cultural variables will be more strongly developed within peace systems than within war systems.Partially supported (6 of 8 variables supported)
War-related cultural variables will be more strongly developed within war systems than within peace systems.Partially supported (3 of 4 variables supported)
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: anj.droe