Considerable disagreement exists in regard to the origin and distribution of economic phenomena such as money, slavery, markets, exchange, and imbalanced transfers. Here the author utilizes a worldwide cross-cultural sample of 60 pre-industrial "societies" to empirically test many economic hypotheses, with a focus on distributional mechanisms and institutions.

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.

This exploratory study seeks to explain cassava production and processing in Africa by considering cultural, agronomic, and environmental data. After examining the descriptive results of the agricultural and social contexts of cassava use, the authors build upon Boserup's population density model (1965) to analyze their own hypothesized model of cassava's importance among the sampled societies.

The second and third parts of this book classify the economic systems of foraging and agricultural societies in the SCCS based on correlations between their institutions of property an distribution. These economic types are then examined for relationships with other social, political, demographic, and environmental factors in order to draw tentative conclusions regarding the origins of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. The fourth part of the book uses cross-national data to examine similar associations in industrial/service economies, and is not included here.

This book is a comparative study of the ways in which work is organized among non-industrial societies in the production of material goods. Two general hypotheses guide the author's work: (1) The structure of any work organization is influenced by both techonological processes and social setting, and (2) The structure of any reward system is influenced by the characteristics of the work organization, the social setting, and the limits imposed by features of the technological processes. Several predictions are presented and all are supported.

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

This study examines organizational characteristics associated with administrative rationality, as well as how organizational development differs under varying social or cultural conditions.

This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.

This is an exploratory study comparing disaster exposure to the presence of exclusionary and corporate political leadership spanning over a 25-year focal period within each of 26 societies. Exclusionary political strategies involves the exclusion of individuals from organized societal benefits based on their relationship with the leader and the tendency to rely heavily on outside alliances for resources. Corporate political strategy tends to seek solutions from within the society and place more emphasis on collectivism. The authors' found support for their hypothesis that increased food-destroying disasters will predict with increased exclusionary leadership presence. These preliminary findings are consistent with previous research on the political adaptation during food-destroying events and the authors hope to continue to expand upon this topic.

This chapter investigates the various socioeconomic variables that are associated with matrilineal and patrilineal institutions. Several variables were found to correlate significantly with matrilineal and patrilineal institutions.