Smithsonian Magazine quoted Michael Blake, the head of UBC’s anthropology department, about a study that linked resource scarcity and human violence.
Blake said the study’s sample size is not big enough to discount the possibility that political complexity could contribute to violence. He noted that although the study examines 19 different cultural groups, most of these are in the middle range of social organization, with only a few outliers on the low or high ranges.
“I think it’s a really great idea as far as it goes,” Blake said, adding it would be ideal to examine a wider range of societies along the Pacific coast and compare the results.
