A Dimensional Model of Multilinear Sociocultural Evolution

Thurstone's latent-distance method was used to find the coordinates of fifty-five societies in a three-dimensional space that has level of sociocultural development as its principal axis. By assuming that the most probable evolutionary precursor of any society was of a type represented by the society at a lower level of development that showed the greatest similarity to it, societies were linked to form a branched evolutionary “tree.” Its structure supported the postulate of multilinear sociocultural evolution and suggested its sequence and dynamics in three main lines of development up to the level of early civilization.