Sociological Anaiysii 1984. 45.

3 213-222

High Gods and the iVieans of Subsistence*

John H. Simpson
University of Toronto

Naturalistic, social, and historical explanations for the belief in a supreme being have
occupied a prominent niche in western thought since the 18th century when Lafitau (1724),
Hume (1757), Rousseau (1762), and Voltaire (1764) pondered the question of whether mono-
theism or polytheim appeared first in human culture. Debate in the 19th century raged
around Tylor's (1871) proposal that the soul phantasm was the foundation of mankind's
religions. According to Tylor, belief in the existence of the soul was elaborated into more
complex doctrines (including monotheism) by advancing cultures. Lang (1898), however,
and , later, Schmidt (1931) rejected the notion of unilinear evolutionary progress toward
the concept of a high god because, as they noted, some of the simplest contemporary
preliterate peoples believe that such a god is present among them.
Others including Radin (1924), Breasted (1933), Freud (1939) and Petazzoni (1954) contrib-
uted to a growing body of speculation and commentary on high gods but, until Swanson's
monograph. The Birth of the Gods, appeared in 1960, no cross-cultural, empirically tested
theory regarding the presence of a high god in a society's culture existed. Employing data
from a sample of preliterate societies, Swanson demonstrated that, within the bounds
of acceptable statistical error, the presence or absence of a high god is a function of the
number of different types of sovereign groups in a society.
Swanson's finding is consistent with Durkheim's view that religious beliefs symbolize
social forces, structures, and relationships. In particular, Swanson combined in a very
ingenious way that made an empirical test possibleDurkheim's "metaphorical parallelism"
(Winter, 1977) with a theme in the literature that is more specific regarding the content
of that relationship ". . . from Hobbes to Weber there has been an insistent, ironic voice
saying that religious man is really, at bottom, political man. All theologies are metaphors
of politics . . ." (Reiff, 1958:111).
But are there other structures as fundamental as the distribution of power and authority
and upon which the belief in a high god may rest? Underhill's (1975) Marxian perspective
suggests that the organization and pattern of control in the economic sector of a society
has a determinative impact upon the content and function of religious beliefs. Swanson
(1975), however, has demonstrated that Underhill's attempt to predict the presence of
a high god is ineffective when tested against his own variable-the number of sovereign
groups in a society.
More recently, it has been shown that a material dimensionthe extent to which subsis-
tence raw materials are active or inert makes a significant contribution to explaining
the presence of a high god when the number of different types of sovereign groups is
controlled (Simpson, 1979). While neither supporting nor contradicting the Marxian per-
spective (since there are compelling reasons for thinking that the active-inert dimension

*Author's note: Preliminary research for this paper was done with the assistance, gratefully acknowledged,
of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Leave Fellowship.

213
214 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

is not an adequate index of the organization and control of a society's economy) the finding
suggests that Swanson's view should be qualified. More than variation in the pattern of
hierarchical authority appears to affect the probability that a high god will be present.
Two questionsone methodological, the other theoreticalcan be raised regarding the
qualification of Swanson that seems called for. (1) Is Swanson's sample of preliterate societies,
which was used to establish the finding reported in Simpson (1979) adequate and, if it
is not, does the relationship between high gods and the means of subsistence persist in
a better sample? (2) If a material factor is related to the presence or absence of a high
god, can that relationship be explained within the scope of Swanson's own reasoning or
are all adequate accounts outside the range of his theory? Those are the questions addressed
in this paper. ^

Cross-Cultural Sampling
Certain problematic features of the sample of societies drawn by Swanson to test the
hypothesis put forward in The Birth of the Gods have not escaped the eyes of critics. Thus,
Underwood (1976) questions its small size given the much larger number of societies (c.
1,250) that have been described well-enough for inclusion in the Ethnographic Atlas (Mur-
dock, 1967). Apart from disregarding the practical difficulties of coding large numbers
of cases, that criticism fails to take into consideration the principles of the cross-cultural
sampling tradition used by Swanson. Thus, it can be asked whether Swanson's sample
is adequate given refinements of the cross-cultural sampling tradition he followed since
the publication of The Birth of the Gods.
The sample of societies examined by Swanson was drawn from an early version of the
World Ethnographic Sample (WES; n = 556) published by Murdock in 1957 (Swanson,
1960:232-233). Murdock, the leading pioneer of empirical cross-cultural research, has estab-
lished a number of samples of which he considers the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
(SCCS; n = 186) to be the "culmination" (Murdock and White, 1969:331). Whether Swan-
son would use the SCCS were he doing his research today is an open question. However,
the fact that he relied upon Murdock's earlier work invites comparison between Swanson's
sample and the SCCS.
The major feature of the cross-cultural sampling tradition established by Murdock is
the construction of stratavariously named "culture areas," "cultural clusters," or "sampling
provinces'from which a sample of individual societies can be drawn. Murdock's use of
sampling strata follows from his rejection of both simple random sampling and the analysis
without sampling of the list of all known and well-described cultures. Simple random
sampling, according to Murdock, entails the risk of omitting rare cultural variants that
should be in a world sample of cultures and over-representing societies that are numerous
and similar. Furthermore, both simple random sampling and whole-list analysis make no
provision for mitigating "Galton's Problem," that is the existence of non-independent sam-
pling units due to cultural diffusion (Murdock, 1968).
The WES-Swanson drew his sample from an early version of this-is a list of 565 cultures
divided into six world regions that are, in turn, subdivided into ten culture areas apiece

'Were sovereign groups coded for the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample a third question could be addressed:
lf a relationship exists between high gods and the means of subsistence, does it persist when the number of
sovereign groups is controlled?
 HIGH GODS AND THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE 215

to yield a total of sixty culture area strata. When he drew the area boundaries, Murdock
had in mind a numerical ideal of ten societies per area with adjustments made for the
number of societies in an area and their complexity (Murdock, 1957). Swanson randomly
drew a society that was well-described for his purposes from each of the 50 areas of Mur-
dock's initial list.
The s e e s differs from the WES in two important respects. Unlike the WES it is based
on an exhaustive inventory of all known and well-described simple societies (published
as the Ethnographic Atlas by Murdock [19671). Secondly, to establish the SCCS Murdock
grouped the cases in the Ethnographic Atlas into 400 cultural clusters ivithout regard for
an ideal number in each cluster. These cultural clusters "are so similar, because of common
derivation or borrowing, that it would be improper to include more than one of them
in any world sample" (Murdock, 1968:306). The cultural clusters are, in turn, combined
into 200 sampling provinces on the basis of linguistic, geographic, and culture-contact
considerations. From most sampling provinces one societygenerally, the best described
at a single point in time and spacewas selected for inclusion in the SCCS to yield a
standard sample of 186 societies (not 200 for reasons given by Murdock and White (1969:
332).
The SCCS is three and one-half times larger than the sample drawn by Swanson from
the WES and, of prime importance, it is definitely more representative of the range of world-
wide cultural variation. For those reasons the relationship between the means of subsistence
and the presence or absence of a high god that was gound by Simpson (1979) in Swanson's
sample will be examined in the following section using data from the SCCS.

Subsistence Effects
In any society the appropriation of the means of subsistence involves a class of actions
commonly referred to as technology. Tasks are the elementary units of technologies, and
the means of subsistence are appropriated and converted into the various forms of energy
that sustain a society by task performances. Since the publication of Hobhouse, Wheeler,
and Ginsberg's The Material Culture and Social Institutions of the Simpler Peoples (1915),
scholars have recognized five analytically distinct categories that describe the range of
bio-materials and the broad types of technological practices employed by preliterate and
traditional peoples to appropriate them. The categories are (1) gathering of small plants
and land fauna, (2) hunting of animals and fowl using some technological assistance e.g.
clubs, spears, traps, nets, etc., (3) fishing, (4) husbandry of domesticated or semi-domesti-
cated animals, and (5) agriculture.
At first glance, there appears to be no simple unitary dimension on which variation
over the categories can be measured unless it be crudely scaled evolutionary development.
However, where viewed in that fashion the sequence from gathering to agriculture is not
a good predictor ofthe presence or absence of a high god (Swanson, 1975). On the other
hand, a dimension that does seem to capture differences between the categories and has
proved to be empirically fruitful is the active-inert dimension (Simpson, 1979).
The defining feature of the active-inert dimension is differing variance in the properties of
raw materials. Active raw materials have at least one of the following characteristics: volatil-
ity and instability, unpredictable resistance, or wide variation in those features that must
be attended to in order to control the material. Obversely, inert materials are stable and
exhibit predictable resistance and uniform properties that are easily controlled (Simpson,
216 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

1979). Active raw materials, then, present non-routine stimuli while inert materials project
more routine patterns of attendant features. As a consequence, task performances associateci
with active materials tend to be fraught with uncertainties while responses to inert materials
have a fixed programmatic quality.
For example, the Tsimshian, an Amerindian Northwest Coast people, dep>ended mainly
upon salmon. The fish were caught during migratory runs upriver and, as Drucker (1965:
118) points out
salmon fishing in the streams was not an exciting occupation, but drudgery. It was not the skillful or
lucky man who put up the big catch, it was the industrious one. Men and older boys tended
the traps or harpooned or dip-netted, then carried the Rsh back to camp.

Salmon, then, are a relatively inert bio-material.

In contrast, the Naskapi of Labrador hunt caribou, an example of an active bio-material.
The caribou is a herd ungulate that is seasonally migratory and, when not migrating,
territorially mobile in search of food. The actual location of a herd at any time is an
uncertain matter. The search pattern for caribou, however, is not random except, possibly,
under conditions of extreme deprivation and uncertainty. Rather, it proceeds on the basis of
an intricate knowledge of the combined effects of terrain, snow and ice conditions, and
other animals, such as wolves, upon moving and feeding patterns (Henriksen, 1973).
More generally, either keeping animals or hunting them may be classified as "active"
in comparison with dependence upon gathering, settled agriculture, or fishing (with the
exception of the pursuit of large sea mammals). That two-fold distinction produced the
association between the means of subsistence and the presence of a high god reported
in Simpson (1979). In exploring the effect of the active-inert dimension in this paper, I
shall examine the impact that the variate has when measured in several other ways.
Table 1 contains an ordering of societies from the SCCS along a dimension that begins
with pastoralism and ends with gathering. Each category includes only those societies
that are significantly dependent upon the mode of appropriation defining the category.
One way of viewing Table 1 is that it arrays societies in terms of the frequency of contact
with motile creatures. Thus, societies that depend upon gathering (usually plants or insects
or their products such as honey) do not have to capture, tend, or monitor energetic orga-
nisms. On the other hand, fishing and hunting involve direct contact with a lively source of
subsistence. Such contact, however, is, invariably, intermittent. Keeping domestic fauna
(other than herding), entails incorporating creatures into a sustained relationship with
humans which, however, may be quite loose, e.g. pigs that roam of village and an adjacent
forest area. Finally, where animals are herded, constant intimate contact occurs between
at least some metnbers of the society and the source of livelihood.
Obviously, fauna vary in terms of potential instability, volatility, or unpredictable resis-
tance. Reindeer are more lively than chickens. Yet all fauna are creatures of action to
some degree. They move, behave, and, sometimes, display willful-like capacities that must be
taken into consideration when they are exploited by humans for subsistence purposes.
Table 1, then, orders societies in terms of the density of interaction with contingencies
and for that reason represents variation along the active-inert dimension. As can be seen,
the dimension is associated with the presence/absence of a high god.
While the active-inert dimension can be measured in terms of the frequency of contact
 HIGH GODS AND THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE 217

TABLE 1

SUBSISTENCE TECHNIQUES BY THE PRESENCE OF A HIGH GOD

Percentage of Societies
Subsistence Technique With A High God

Pastoralism^ 92.3%
(n=13)
Domestic Animals
Kept^ 74.0%
(n = 50)
Hunting'^ 50.0%
(n=12)
Fishing'^ 40.0%
(n = 20)
Gathering*^ 28.6%
(n = 7)
Sources: Murdock, 1967; Murdock and White, 1969; Murdock and Morrow, 1970.
Contributes more to the local food supply than any other subsistence technique
Contributes more than 10 per cent ofthe local food supply but less than one or more other subsistence techniques
'"Contributes more to the local food supply than any other subsistence technique and, in some cases, more
than all other subsistence techniques

with a source of contingencies it can also be viewed in terms of the type of bio-material
that is appropriated or used for subsistence purposes. Table 2 contains orderings of societies
according to the type of animal kept and the type of fauna hunted irrespective of the
extent of dependence on herding or hunting for subsistence. As can be seen, where the
principal domestic animals are ovide, equine, or bovine species or some other type of
large, powerful animal, e.g. camels, there is a marked probability that a high god will be
present. On the other hand, where the principal domestic animals are relatively small
creatures, e.g. dogs, the likelihood of a high god appearing is considerably diminished.

TABLE 2

TYPE OF DOMESTIC ANIMAL EXPLOITED BY THE PRESENCE OF A HIGH GOD

Percentage of Societies
Domestic Animal Type With A High God

Active^ 78.3%

39.5%
(n = 76)
Sources: Murdock, 1967; Murdock and White, 1969; Murdock and Morrow, 1970.
^Sheep, goats, reindeer, equine species, bovine species, camels and related species
"Small species, e.g. cats, dogs, and pigs
218 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Similarly, where mammals are hunted (Table 3) there is a somewhat greater chance that
a high god will be present than where birds are the object of prey. In general, locating
or entrapping and killing mammals present more challenges than hunting birds. Some
mammals, for instance, are prepared to defend themselves against predators by means
other than fleeing.

TABLE 3

OBJECT OF THE HUNT BY THE PRESENCE OF A HIGH GOD

Percentage of Societies
Hunted Class With A High God

Mammals 58.2%
(n = 91)
Birds 47.1%
(n=17)
Sources: Murdock, 1967; Murdock and White, 1969; Murdock and Morrow, 1970.

Although the active-inert dimension is measured differently in this paper, the results
are, clearly, consistent with the findings reported in Simpson (1979). Furthermore, unlike
the earlier results they are established in a sample which is unequivocally representative of
world-wide cultural variation among preliterate and traditional societies. There is, then, substan-
tial evidence that the presence or absence of a high god is related to the means of subsis-
tence.

Explaining Subsistence Effects

Can the association between the active-inert dimension and a high goci's appearance
be explained within the bounds of Swanson's reasoning or must come other perspective
be sought? Bringing subsistence effects within Swanson's orbit involves linking material
conditions with social relations that underwrite the belief in a high god. An affirmative
answer to the question means, among other things, that explanations based on the (socio-
logically) implausible assumption of direct material effects, i.e. effects that are not socially
mediated, can be rejected.
According to Swanson, "people experience 'supernatural' properties in social life . . .
because social relationships inherently possess the characteristics we identify as supernat-
ural" (Swanson, 1960:22). This principle embraces two claims that are the foundation for
Swanson's explanation of religious phenomena: 1) the properties of a specific supernatural
entity can be shown to be in correspondence with the properties of a particular social
relationship; 2) people experience the properties of social relationships. The warrant for
the second claim is beyond the scope of this paper. Readers are referred to Winter's (1984)
cogent explication of its grounds. That leaves the first claim and the necessity to establish a
 HIGH GODS AND THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE 219

correspondence between the properties of a high god and the social relations and conditions
that characterize the appropriation of active subsistence materials and the absence of a
correspondence where the means of subsistence are inert.
A high god, according to Swanson (1960) is a spirit or spiritual being and, therefore,
has the following properties: (1) it is an organized cluster of purposes with a distinctive
focus of activity and (2) an identity, (3) access to mana, and (4) persistence as a potent
force beyond the span of ordinary mortal life. In addition to possessing the properties
of a spirit, a high god has a feature that distinguishes it from all other spirits: it is believed
to be the creator of all reality and/or its ultimate governor. A high god, then, is a spirit
which, in some sense is thought to be the source and/or guide of everything.
Ofthe five properties defining a high god, two-an organized cluster of purposes with
a distinct focus of activity and an identity-characterize an autonomous acting unit. An
autonomous acting unit implements its own purposes (not those of some other unit) and, in
the process, takes into account its own and others' motives, needs, desires, and knowledge.
What must be established, then, to begin with, is the greater likelihood of autonomous
acting units arising in collectivities appropriating active means of subsistence than in those
where inert means dominate. The argument that follows links variation in the properties
of subsistence materials with differences in the nature and distribution of tasks that, in
turn, affect the attribution of characteristics to task performers (cf. Simpson, 1972).
Because there is low variance and little uncertainty in the range of properties characteris-
tic of inert materials, tasks pursuant to the appropriation of such materials tend to be
repetitious and well-understood in terms ofthe variables affecting performance outcomes.
Furthermore, task performances may be subdivided and temporally or spatially dispersed
over a number of persons or positions. Inert materials, then, entail the repetitive perfor-
mance of a limited repertoire of relatively simple tasks that are, in principle, divisible.
Individual skill levels and performance aptitudes are of little consequence.
On the other hand, where materials are potentially volatile or are difficult to control,
tasks tend to be performed by units-sometimes collectivities but, usually, individuals-pos-
sessing a relatively large repertoire of skills and discretion, that is, autonomy and responsibil-
ity for choosing appropriate responses to a varying and, frequently, unpredictable range
of circumstances. Such units are controlled by their own purposes, that is, they are self-
directing. Furthermore, since both the timing and location of the events that may occur
in the appropriation and transformation of active materials are frequently unpredictable,
task performances tend to be concentrated as a "package" in a single position or unit
and a number of positions-each, ideally, with the same potentially efficacious response
capacity-are distributed over the spatial and temporal domain ofthe collectivity. In such
systems, variation in individual strength, ingenuity, and performance aptitudes are related
to the effective performance of tasks.
Variation in the distribution of tasks over positions (which follows from variation along
the active-inert dimension) also effects attribution processes and, in particular, the attribu-
tion of causal efficacy in the appropriation of subsistence materials (cf. Heider, 1958:79-124).
Where active materials are processed there is a tendency to individualize the unit of causal
efficacy and ascribe success in the production of outputs to the efforts of the individual
actor. Inert materials, on the other hand, do not encourage the individuation ofthe attribu-
tion of causal efficacy. In principle, one individual is as good as another for acquiring
220 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

and processing materials and an individual may perform only one simple task in a sequence
of tasks that leads to the production of outputs. Thus, there is no pinpointing of the
individual per se as an effective source of causal activity.
In addition to affecting variation in the distribution of tasks and the attribution of
causal efficacy, the active-inert dimension affects the perception of potency. Thus, where
the work environment is fraught with uncertainties, as it is when active materials are
being processed, there is a tendency to enlarge, beyond the bounds of the ordinary, the
attributed potency, power, and force of those individuals who are adaptive or successful
in the pursuit of outcomes. This may suggest an ability to control and use extraordinary
or, even, mysterious power in the pursuit of outcomes.
It would seem to be the case, then, that the experience of autonomous self-directed
action is likely to be available where active subsistence materials are appropriated and
there is a reliance upon skilled, pragmatic action. What about access to mana? Mana is
a substance or essence associated with the ability to perform tasks thought to be difficult
or impossible. Although mana is a supernatural force and, hence, distinct from natural
power, it reveals itself in a display of physical force or any kind of excellence which a
person possesses (Winick, 1972). I have suggested above that, given success with active
materials, an individual may be perceived as being invested with the ability to control
and effectively use extraordinary power. A collectivity processing active materials, then,
would make available the experience of the control and use of mana.
Two properties remain: the source of all reality and persistence as a potent force beyond
the span of ordinary mortal life. The acquisition and processing of subsistence raw materials
provides the basis for the experience of both properties.
Subsistence materials are literally the means of life. The provision of subsistence materials,
then, is the most fundamental activity in a society for they are the source of the life of
the individual and the basis for the continuation of the collectivity. In the case of preliterate
societies, most members would have frequent and direct contact with the acquisition and
processing of subsistence materials and, thus, experience the provision of the source of
individual and collective life which, themselves, encompass all reality. When active subsis-
tence materials are the means of life, that experience, as noted above, is associated with
the autonomous pragmatic action of individuals who may be perceived as manifesting
extraordinary power and skill.
Finally, in what sense might the acquisition and processing of subsistence raw materials be
a mociel for the notion of persistence beyond the duration of ordinary mortal life? It is
customary to identify collectivities groups or societies as models of immortality since
they tenci to endure beyond the life ofthe individual (Durkheim, 1915; Swanson, 1960).
The persistence of a group or society, as such, however, is not unrelated to the continuation
across generations of the performance of those activities that maintain the life of the collec-
tivity. The most important of these is the provision of subsistence materials. A society
that persists, then, provides its members with a model of immortality in the experience
of activitiesespecially, those activities relateci to the provision ofthe means of subsistence-
that must be performed if the collectivity is to survive. While individuab, themselves,
are mortal, the requisite activities or performances endure as long as the society persists and they
become socially available as the model for a high god where there is autonomous pragmatic action.
 HIGH GODS AND THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE 221

Conclusion

Although the empirical results reported above differ from Swanson's own findings, they
are consistent with the tenor of his theoretical position. Dominant sovereign groups and
autonomous pragmatic individuals are associateci with the presence of a high god because,
essentially, both exemplify an acting unit carrying out its own purposes. Far from qualifying
Swanson in a negative fashion, then, the results and arguments in this paper elaborate
his theory by taking into consideration instrumental action, the intent being to contribute
to the development of one of the more remarkable and powerful general sociological the-
ories of our time (cf. Simpson, 1983).

Breasted, James H. 1933. The Daum of Conscience. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Drucker, Philip. 1965. Cultures of the hlorth Pacific Coast. San Francisco: Chandler.
Durkheim, Emile. 1915. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Freud, Sigmund. 1939. Moses and Monotheism. New York: Vintage Books.
Heider, Fritz. 1958. TKe Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: John Wiley.
Henriksen, Georg. 1973. Hunters in the Barrens: The Naskapi on the Edge of the White Man's World. St. John's:
Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Hobhouse, L. J., G. C. Wheeler, and M. Ginsberg. 1915. The Material Culture and Social Imtitutions of the Simpler
Peoples. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hume, David. 1757. The hiatural History of Religion. London: A. Millar.
Lafitau, Joseph Francois. 1724. Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquair\s Comparees Moeurs des Premiers Temps. Paris: Saugrain
l'Aine.
Lang, Andrew. 1898. The Making of Religion. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Murdock, George P. 1957. "World Ethnographic Sample." American Anthropologist 59:664-687.
. 1967. Ethnographic Atlas. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
. 1968. "World Sampling Provinces." Ethnology 7:305-326.
Murdock, George P. and Diana O. Morrow. 1970. "Subsistence Economy and Supportive Practices: Cross-cultural
Codes 1." Ethnology 9(3):302-330.
Murdock, George R and Douglas R. White. 1969. "Standard Cross-cultural Sample." Ethnology 8:329-369.
Pettazzoni, Raffaele. 1954. Essays on the History of Religions. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Radin, Paul. 1924. Monotheism Among Primitive Peoples. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Rieff, Philip. 1958. "Introduction to Max Weber: 'Science as a Vocation.'" Daedulus 87(1):111.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1762. Emile. Paris.
Schmidt, Wilhelm. 1931. The Origin arui Growth of Religion: Facts arui Theories. New York: Lincoln and MacVeagh.
Simpson, John H. 1972. "Technology, Autonomy, and Identity." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford Univer-
sity.
. 1979. "Sovereign Groups, Subsistence Activities, and the Presence of a High God in Primitive Societies,"
pp. 299-310 in Robert Wuthnow ed. The Religious Dimension: }^ew Directions in Quantitative Research. New
York: Academic Press.
. 1983. "Power Transfigured: Guy Swanson's Analysis of Religion." Religions Studies Review 9(4):349-352.
Swanson, Guy E. 1960. The Birth of the Gods: The Origin of Primitive Beliefs. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press.
. 1975. "Monotheism, Materialism, and Collective Purpose: An Analysis of Underhill's Correlations."
American Journal of Sociology. 80:862-869.
TVlor, Edward B. 1871. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art,
arui Custom. London: J. Murray.
Underhill, Ralph. 1975. "Economic and Political Antecedents of Monotheism: A Cross-cultural Study." American
Journal of Sociology 80:841-861.
222 SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

. 1976. "Economy, Polity, and Monotheism: Reply to Swanson." American Journal of Sociology. 82:418-421.
Voltaire, Francois Marie. 1764. Dictionnaire Philosophique Portatif. Londres.
Winick, Charles. 1972. Dictionary of Anthropology, Totowa, New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams.
Winter, J. Alan. 1977. Continuities in the Sociology of Religion: Creed, Congregation, and Community. New York:
Harper and Row.
. 1984. "Toward A Fuller Version of Swanson's Sociology of Religion." Sociological Analysis 45:3.