Community Organization and Family Structure in Two Fishing Communities

The reciprocal relation of community organization and family patterns is examined by participant observation techniques in two isolated fishing communities, similar in ecology and cultural background. Even though work organization in both is small scale, with similar seafood harvested from the same waters, substantial differences in patterns of family life are found. One community exhibits patterns of family life like isolated Appalachian peasant communities; the other resembles family adaptations in small-town rural America. These differences are attributed to variations in interface with the larger society. The first community, organized around kindreds, has broker-mediated links; the second, with independent conjugal units, has direct ties to the center.