This chapter explores the relationship between cultural complexity and song. Several measures of cultural complexity are correlated with different aspects of singing. All hypotheses are supported.

A large-scale comparative study of folk songs around the world employing systematic measures (cantometrics). The aim was not just to describe variation but to test hypotheses about the relationships between song style and societal structures. Dance was also considered.

This chapter examines the relationship between social cohesion (measured using variables like subsistence type, stable work teams, and settlement patterns) and musical cohesion. All hypotheses are supported.

This study seeks correlations between social variables and linguistic variables, including the following ten speech patterns: repetitiveness, long-windedness, drawl, charm and variability, amount of pausing, sharing of air time, tension, noisy qualities, breath control, and forcefulness. Many associations are discussed, particularly those involving societal complexity, sex roles, and singing and dancing.

This article uses factor analysis to identify the key variables underlying the many cross-cultural associations reported by Textor (1967). Twelve factors are identified.

In this paper, the authors analyzed data on 20 hunter-gatherer groups in order to understand the factors that influence the diversity and elaborateness of their tool assemblages. They used data collected by a variety of ethnographers to draw inferences about the complexity of implement assemblages and how it is affected by ecological constraints, modes of resource procurement, group movement, and population size. Regression analysis showed that the two strongest predictors of implement complexity were growth season (GS) (as a proxy for risk) and the number of annual residential moves (NMV). With the understanding that NMV and GS are likely not independent, the authors created addition and interaction models to understand how these variables may work in tandem to influence implement diversity and elaborateness. The results show that a shorter growing season (higher risk) and a lower number of moves are correlated with greater implement complexity. This analysis also divided the hunter-gatherers into two subgroups: a subgroup characterized by higher diversity of complex implements and more elaborate individual implements than predicted by the model, and a subgroup characterized by lower diversity and less elaborateness than predicted. These subgroups were found to correspond with the distinction between foragers (groups that move more-or-less as a unit while gathering) and collectors (groups that gather (logistically from a more-or-less fixed settlement), with the higher diversity subgroup being made up mostly of collectors and the lower diversity subgroup being made up mostly of foragers. Finally, the authors suggest that under conditions where population growth leads to increased density, foraging strategies will tend to shift to collector strategies in conjunction with increased elaborateness of implements to exploit resources with greater intensity.

This article reassesses the question of relative peacefulness/violence of preindustrial societies. It tests two materialist theories suggesting that more advanced subsistence techniques and population pressure will increase the likelihood of warfare.

This paper tests theory suggesting that art is a form of expressive cultures which ultimately is shaped by the social conditions under which people in a society live. Focuses on social hierarchy and its relationship to art styles.

This study presents a sociological theory of marriage type based on socioeconomic organization. Results suggest that intensive agriculture, more stratification, greater political integration, a fixed settlement pattern, a larger population, and greater labor specialization tended to be correlates of monogamy.

This study employs optimal scaling analysis to examine change in subsistence economy in a cross-cultural sample of 73 societies. Findings are discussed in addition to methodological considerations for sampling.