The Search for Simplicity: A.K. Romney and Building Models From Systematic Data

For more than 50 years, A.K. Romney and his many collaborators have published a steady stream of methods, ideas, critiques, and findings. This influential body of work has been characterized by a strong interest in quantification, extensive use of graphics and visual presentations of data, a focus on empirical issues, a search for cultural universals, intensive collaboration with other researchers, and a striving for conciseness and clarity. Of these, the search for simplicity is perhaps the most notable and pervasive characteristic of his work. This article reviews some of Romney’s early work on kinship, tracing the way in which Romney’s treatment of kinship data was influenced by his basic notion of humans as accurate and principled categorizers.