Systemic requisites of communal groups

Abstract

Functional analysis, which deals specifically with the systemic needs of social organizations, is utilized here to specify the structural necessities of communal groups. The adaptive and goal attainment functions of social systems are the principal foci of this research. The present research is based on a content analysis of literature dealing with the communal movement in America. A snowball sampling technique yielded 58 communes for which data on the variables of interest could be obtained. Two organizational features, financial situation at the time of a commune's formation and type of social organization, were selected as independent variables and were examined in order to ascertain their effects on the duration of communal groups, the dependent variable. Both gamma and chisquare indicate that financial situation and type of social organization significantly influence the duration of communal groups. Sufficient finances for the stabilization and maintenance of the communal organization, and a type of social organization which adequately coordinates the activities of the group, seem to be systemic problems with which communal groups must deal in order to endure for an extended length of time.