Political Institutionalization in Primitive Societies: A Hologeistic Analysis

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Abstract
This paper analyses several possible determinants of the level of institu tional political complexity in primitive societies. The independent variables are drawn from prior ethnographic and hologeistic studies. The data base is Murdock and White's (1969) Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. Four scales of political complexity are used in several bivariate and multivariate analyses. The best linear predictor of institutional complexity turns out to be the level of class stratification. Yet, the level of economic development exhibits a notable threshold relationship with the dependent variables. Thus, while both social stratification and economic development are independently related to political complexity, the form of the relationship is distinctive for each.