STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION

Abstract

Hillery's constructed types are used as a framework to develop a hypothesis regarding the relationship between forms of social organization and the integration and longevity of the group. The hypothesis is tested using: (1) failure rates of businesses and marriages, and (2) failure rates of variously structured intentional communities. Both tests support the hypothesis that communal organizations, which permit structural freewheeling, are more stable than formal organizations, which donot.