Sociobiologists of human behavior, arguing that close inbreeding results in deleterious ojJspring, have proposed that natural selection processes have produced incest avoidance mechanisms in the human genotype. To support this evolutiona7y hypothesis, universal cultural incest proscriptions

Employing a cross‐cultural sample of 121 societies, this research tests and supports three hypotheses offered by Yehudi Cohen (1978) concerning the relationship between the general evolution of society and the extension of the incest taboo. Cohen generally proposes that the number of relatives included in the incest taboo will be reduced as societies become technologically and socially more complex. More specifically, Cohen identifies the development of trade institutions as eliminating the need for extended incest regulations. Furthermore, Cohen proposes that as the incest taboo contracts and becomes less important, violations of this taboo are treated less severely.

While the advantages and need for cross-cultural analysis have been extolled since the writings of Emile Durkheim, the appearance and recognition of this comparative approach has been slow in coming to criminology. The scarcity of cross-cultural research and theory in criminology can be substantially traced to relativistic propositions embedded in criminological treatises. A critical examination of relativism in criminology, however, reveals a concept that is poorly developed or understood and is unconvincing as a barrier to cross-culturally derived generalizations.

This research tests and supports the hypothesis proposed by Durkheim which relates increasing crime frequency to social differentiation as a process of sociocultural evolution. Unlike past tests of this hypothesis, the current study provides a cross‐cultural sample of 121 societies representing a broad range of societal development, geographical dispersion, and cultural diversity. This examination interprets social differentiation in the broader scope of general evolutionary theory, thus providing a between society analysis of sociocultural complexity. While it is recognized that “crime” is not defined the same across all societal types, this research does examine 14 behavioral categories which are of interest to modern criminology.

This research stresses the utility of evolutionary theory and comparative methodology for explaining warfare frequency. It is hypothesized that warfare frequency (external war, civil war, rioting, and feuding) is related to sociocultural development as indicated by cross‐cultural measures of technology and social differentiation. The hypotheses were supported utilizing data drawn from the Human Relations Area microfilm Files on 132 contemporary and historical societies.