The community as a social system

Abstract

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. © 1972 University of North Carolina Press.