The author compares three scales of social complexity (Naroll's Social Development Index, Freeman's Scale, and Marsh's Index of Differentiation) and determine whether they tend to measure the same developmental variable. The author's statistical comparisons illustrate that each scale applies the same standard in ranking societies

This article reviews literature on social evolution, urbanization, and their interrelationships before empirically examining the relationship between settlement size and organizational complexity. An index of social development composed of three indicators is introduced, critiqued, and compared to other classification systems.

A brief review of research on women's status is presented. Predictions are tested about women's choice of occupation in relation to levels of social complexity.

This article examines child-training through children's display of individualistic orientations (self-reliance, achievement, and general independence) and/or group orientations (responsibility, nurturance, and obedience). Five sub-categories measure whether each orientation is linked to a child's experience of general pressure or performance anxiety/conflict. Together, these orientations their sub-categories total 30 variables that were correlated; differences in gender were also examined. Results indicate that child-rearing pressure to act one way predicts pressure to act in other ways, and this pattern of interaction between variables did not vary by gender.

This paper examines two measures of cultural complexity: Carneiro’s (1970) scale and codes assembled at the University of Pittsburg. Analysis suggests the two measures are compatible, thus providing evidence for their validity. The authors assess the usefulness of a cultural complexity scale by testing the relationship between descent rules and cultural complexity. Significant associations suggest that cultural complexity is related to social organization and is thereby a useful measure.

This article tests the relationship between child-training variables and cultural complexity. Attention is paid to different types of socialization pressure (group-oriented versus individual-oriented; the degree of anxiety created by the pressure). Findings suggest that group-oriented socialization promotes societal complexity, but individual-oriented socialization and pressure-induced anxiety do not.

In this article, the author suggests a new topology of numerical notation systems. This new typology organizes each system by two axes. The first of these axes is cumulative versus ciphered versus multiplicative and the other is additive versus positional. The author goes on to argue that, considering the intelligibility of number systems even in the absence of knowledge about their associated language, human number systems are a reflection of cognitive processes. Finally, the author uses this new typology to build a theoretical model of numerical system evolution over time. The article concludes with suggestions for utilizing this typology in future cross-cultural research.

Acerbi, Kendal, and Tehrani examine the relationship between population size and cultural complexity as measured by a non-technological cultural domain: folktales. Three measures of complexity for folktales are analyzed, 1) number of tale types, 2) number of narrative motifs, and 3) number of traits in variants of two international folktales. Findings suggest that the relationship between cultural complexity and population may depend on the domain, as different domains vary in cultural maintenance and transmission.

This article is chiefly concerned with the cross-national validity of measures of precarious manhood beliefs (PMB) as well as correlations between those beliefs, other gender ideologies, and measures of development and gender equity. While much of the orientation of this paper is psychological, individual constructions of gender and the ideologies that inform them are culturally specific. Thus, this sort of research allows researchers and theorists an opportunity to glimpse an outline of what might be a deep structure to masculinity cross-culturally. By analyzing data collected through surveys of 34,023 undergraduates in 62 countries, the researchers were able to test for psychometric isomorphism between individuals and country-level data in order to validate their measures. Subsequently, the researchers were able to test correlations between PMB and hostile sexism (HS), benevolent sexism (BS), hostility towards men (HM), and benevolence towards men (BM). This situated the PMB construct within a larger literature on the nature of masculinity. Finally, the researchers tested PMB against the Human Development Index (HDI) and Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). The researchers conclude that not only is their measure of precarious manhood beliefs valid but that this construct comports well with other theories of gender ideology cross-nationally.

Drawing from Social Darwinism theories, this article posits warfare (specifically, military success) as a selective mechanism in the evolution of culture. The hypothesis was not supported.