The role of the aged in primitive society

Yale University Press • New Haven • Published In • Pages: ??•
By Simmons, Leo W.

Hypothesis

Aged men had more success in marrying younger women in patriarchal societies, among herders, and more advance societies (211-212)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Yule’s QSupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
DescentUNKNOWNRule Of Descent
InheritanceUNKNOWNInheritance
Marriage Of Aged Men To Young MatesUNKNOWNActivities Of The Aged
Patripotestal Family AuthorityUNKNOWNKin Relationships
Social ComplexityUNKNOWNSociocultural Trends
SuccessionUNKNOWNChief Executive

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Simmons, Leo W.Prestige of the aged is negatively correlated with severe climate and impermanent residence. It is positively correlated for aged men and women where they have property rights and influence in government. Aged women enjoy more prestige in hunting-gathering and fishing societies and in societies where matrilineal family organization prevails. Aged men have high prestige where the food supply is constant, where family organization type is patrilineal, in herding and framing societies, and w...
Simmons, Leo W.Aged women have tended to acquire property rights in simple societies and within matrilineal types of family organization. Aged men have tended to gain greatest control of property in more complex societies and within patrilineal family organization (49)
Simmons, Leo W.". . . .in customs of food sharing with the aged there has been no significant difference in the treatment accorded to aged men and women (34)
Simmons, Leo W."Finally, with advancing economy, greater complexity and integration of social organization, and with a general improvement in societal stability the aged have tended to enjoy a steadily rising enhancement of status in civil and political affairs" (130)
Glascock, Anthony P."If explicit treatment of the aged can be determined from ethnographic data, these treatments should cluster into a limited number of treatment categories" (23).