Suchergebnisse

This research analyzes household structure and interfamily networks. The claims by Young and Young (I 968) that an increase in a family's relative centrality in a communal network will lead to an increase in household differentiation (household complexity) is put, to a test. The findings deny the efficacy of their hypothesis, but indicate a tendency in the opposite direction. Family household differentiation of time one is positively related to relative centrality at time two (five years later). The explanation proposed in this paper is that in peasant communities, at least, it is the "marginal families" which tend to differentiate, but that these families migrate or establish social ties to families outside their community. These findings constitute evidence against the effectiveness of considering families at the center of social networks as prime targets of innovations.

Previous work suggests that solidarity, political competitiveness, and rigidity influence the nature of social and economic change. Hypotheses that these three phenomena affect social well‐being at the institutional level of the community beyond the effects of basic socioeconomic and population characteristics are examined in this study. Using data from a sample of North Carolina county‐seat communities, a regression analysis with six controls indicates positive relationships of community solidarity and political competitiveness with social and health services. However, there is little indication that social rigidity has any effect on such services. Contrary to theories claiming the relative unimportance of communities, results indicate that community populations with high levels of solidarity and political competitiveness can have a positive influence on institutional growth and structural change.