Modern research on matriarchy differs from earlier research on the subject by using an approach based on scientific methodology, as is demonstrated at the outset in this book. This is followed by a brief critical survey of previous research and its development. Modern matriarchy research is once again making accessible this completely different form of society & which is not an inversion of patriarchy. The way in which we conceive of matriarchal societies is being increasingly enriched through comparative cultural analyses. This approach affects and alters every sociocultural area of our knowledge. Modern matriarchal research therefore now forms part of basic research and represents a new philosophical paradigm. This first volume is devoted to contemporary matriarchal societies in East Asia, Indonesia and the Pacific.