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The Size of Societies, Stratification, and Belief in High Gods Supportive of Human Morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Frans L. Roes
Frans L. Roes*
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, The Netherlands
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Abstract

Two hypotheses about belief in high gods supportive of human morality were tested with data from the Ethnographic Atlas and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. A significant positive relation between the size of societies and such a belief is demonstrated, and this relation appears to be independent of both regional differences and differences in stratification of the societies. On the other hand, stratification itself is also significantly related with the belief in high gods supportive of human morality, but this relation could not be shown to be independent of regional differences or differences in size.

Type
Human Morality
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1995 , pp. 73 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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