This paper critiques Diffusionist, Functionalist, Acculturation and Holocultural theories bearing on the evolution and spread of age‐societies among Northern Plains Indians. It is suggested that such studies have advanced our knowledge of the form, content, and function of age‐set organization, but they remain insufficient to account for the reasons that age‐set organization developed in these tribes in contrast to coordinate societies. A revised theory is advanced, which correlates the presence of age‐sets with low horsewealth and demographic‐territorial stability among historic Plains tribes. Age‐set organization developed in, or diffused to, politically decentralized, pedestrian tribes that were engaged in frequent warfare and exhibited relative demographic‐territorial stability. [age‐set theory, Plains Indians, horsewealth, demographic‐territorial stability]
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