Cross-Cultural Research RSS feed -- OnlineFirst Articles

In Memorium: Melvin Ember (1933-2009)

Ember, C. R. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:38:34 PST

Collective Action and Adaptive Socioecological Cycles in Premodern States

Blanton, R. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:39:29 PST

Resiliency theorists propose that ecological transformations result when ecosystems collapse and then are reorganized through a process they call adaptive cycles. This article investigates the degree to which the dynamic properties of adaptive cycles reflect, in part, the influence of political factors associated with collective action in state formation. The author evaluates this possibility using historical and archaeological data coded as part of a comparative study of 30 premodern states. From these data, the author investigates the socionatural consequences of various regime-building strategies, and the author concludes that collective action political process will be an important factor to consider in future studies of socioecological resilience and transformation.

Cultural Variation in Parental Influence on Mate Choice

Buunk, A. P., Park, J. H., Duncan, L. A. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:06:28 PDT

Contrary to assumptions underlying current psychological theories of human mating, throughout much of human history parents often controlled the mating behavior of their children. In the present research, the authors tested the hypothesis that the level of parental influence on mating is associated with the level of collectivism in a culture. A scale to assess the degree of parental influence on mate choice was administered to four samples: 371 students from the Netherlands; 197 young people from Kurdistan, Iraq; 80 students from 30 different countries studying in the Netherlands; and 102 students in Canada. As expected, the Kurdish sample reported higher levels of parental influence on mate choice than the Dutch sample, and parental influence was found to be higher in more collectivistic countries. In the Canadian sample, participants with an East Asian background (who have greater exposure to collectivistic cultural norms) indicated greater parental influence than did participants with a European background.

Explaining Cross-National Differences in Fertility: A Comparative Approach to the Demographic Shift

Barber, N. — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:36:25 PDT

Low fertility in modern societies challenges evolutionary social scientists. A comparative analysis of less developed countries investigated various possible predictors of low fertility including urbanization, monogamous marriage, level of participation in the monetary economy (GDP), and low infant mortality. Using a sample of 45 countries broken out by urban and rural location, each of these predictors of total fertility was significant in a regression analysis (r² = .76) that controlled for survey year, geographic latitude, sex ratio, and geographic hemisphere. Multivariate prediction estimated that the demographic shift (TFR < 2.6) occurs when infant mortality falls below 33 per thousand, when polygyny reaches zero, and when GDP per capita rises above US$20,508. (The low fertility at high latitudes, reported by Barber, was further found explainable in terms of monogamous marriage). Declining fertility in modern societies evidently constitutes an adaptive response to ecological conditions and is largely predictable from them.