The Community as a Social System

Bibliographic Data

ID2553970
AuthorsFrederick L Bates (corresponding author), Lloyd Bacon
Year1972
Volume50
Issue3
Pages371
Publication date1972-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Forces (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2577041
OpenAlexW4255690261
LanguageEN
Citations received9

Some assumptions common to traditional theories of the community are examined: (1) that social system boundaries are geographically determinable; (2) that the units comprising communities are either humans or families; (3) that cooperation based on common goals underlies community organization. Suggested here is a conflict model of community structure and behavior that focuses upon interstitial groups linking elemental groups and complex organizations to form the community system. Within interstitial groups social exchange and coordination occurs between groups and organizations whose orientations are in potential conflict. This social exchange between elemental groups, a consequence of the division of labor, is accomplished within interstices containing conjunctive relationships, and it is here that conflict is managed, enabling the operation of complex social systems

Community organization · Division of labour · Economic system · Economics · Group (periodic table) · Political science · Public relations · Social exchange theory · Social group · Social organization · Social science · Social system · Sociology · Chemistry · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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