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The author emphasizes the importance of studying both local and extralocal social ties found in community areas of the metropolis. Knowledge of temporal trends in these ties is limited, but both are important in the metropolis, leading to the mediate community: communities that often have many endogenous ties but also have strong links to the larger world. The author also suggests that local and extralocal ties should be subdivided on the basis of whether they are instrumental or expressive. Using data from previous community studies, the author illustrates possible relationships of local and extralocal social ties to community culture, including efforts to protect the community.

Aggregate variations in average children ever born and parity progression ratios across counties in New York, as reflected in the state census of 1865, show that while some of the inter-areal variation is due to differences in age structure and marital status, social characteristics of the counties are also quite important. In particular, housing values or living standards strongly depress the probability of additional births. This finding ties in well with other studies of the correlates of low fertility in nineteenth-century France and Massachusetts. The present study also finds that the decision to have a first child (not to be childless) has some different areal correlates than the decision to proceed from a moderate to large family; in particular, areal emphasis on schooling and Baptist religious affiliation are associated with high childlessness. Some previously emphasized social causes of the American decline, such as the shortage of available farmland, are found to be unimportant in New York State when other variables are included in the analysis.

A recurring issue in the urban literature is the degree to which individuals and institutions are influenced by their immediate environments. Church growth in Seattle-area churches is correlated with characteristics of the nearby area, such as spatial location, population composition, and social ties. Consistent with previous research, the "life cycle" stage of the surrounding neighborhood is an important predictor of growth but the social ties of the church to the nearby area also are important, including the church's duration at location and the localization of membership. The effects of the urban environment on growth are nearly as strong as church internal organizational characteristics.

In the late nineteenth century, the United States population included a large number of first and second generation immigrants from European countries, often with relatively high fertility levels. This article investigates the degree to which fertility behavior changed as a result of social structural characteristics of the environment such as urbanization and children's role, the diffusion of fertility values and information from the native population, and the role of cultural values or resistance to change. On the whole, little evidence is found that adaptation was culturally unique, although groups maintained distinctive fertility levels over generations. Substantial evidence suggests that immigrant women modified their fertility behavior as a consequence of social structural factors and contact with the native U.S. population.

The literature on American immigration frequently distinguishes between the assimilation of the old groups, primarily from Northern and Western Europe, and the new groups, primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe. This article analyzes old-new differences in naturalization, one possible measure of assimilation. Data described here indicate a clear difference in 1900 between the new and old groups in their rates of assimilation, but little difference in eventual degrees of naturalization among persons who have been in the United States for some period of time. It is suggested that some of the remaining differences may be a result of the social structures of the origin countries.

Central city patterns of racial change frequently involve an invasion-succession process in which blacks replace whites in a community. In contrast, suburbs with significant black and white populations have frequently been growing in numbers of both races. This pattern is consistent with the general areal and population growth of the suburban community which has occurred since World War II. Within the suburban ring, com munities with growth of both blacks and whites differ significantly in housing and popu lation characteristics from the Invasion-Succession communities.