ABSTRACT
One of the salient aims of modern anthropology, conceived as a science, is to define recurrent sequences of cause and effect, that is, to formulate cultural laws. This paper is concerned with recurrent features in the social, economic, and religious organization of peasant groups in two world areas, widely separated by past history and geographical space: Meso-america 1 and Central Java. 2 These have been selected for comparison, because I have some measure of acquaintance with Mesoamerica through field work, and a measure of familiarity with the literature dealing with the two areas.
