A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Adult-Child Proxemics in Relation to the Plowman-Protector Complex

Cross-cultural analyses have documented linkages between sub sistence economy, socialization pressure, and personality type. Here I extend the sequence to include proxemic behaviors between adults and children. Proxemic data were gathered from eleven cultures; prox emic relationships between men and children varied predictably with variations in other societal components. As the reliance upon the male's superior strength in handling large animals increased and as the ethnic heterogeneity of a community increased, the less equal was his asso ciation patterns toward boys and girls. When the reliance of a com munity upon plowmen or herders was low and the community was ethnically homogeneous, the men associated with children with greater egalitarianism. The woman-child dyad was relatively independent both of the community's reliance upon plowmen and of the level of ethnic homogeneity. However, the woman-child dyad was more likely to as sociate with another woman (rather than with a man) when the re liance upon plowmen/herders and the index of ethnic heterogeneity were both increased.