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When the social systems of Europe expanded to the then future Canada-U.S. area, their first activities centered on the fisheries. Despite long history, the fisheries are territory for exploring by historians, economists, and various natural scientists. The fisheries are especially good sources of empirical data for the interpenetration of economic and social activity. This deals with only one part of a study. Even here it illustrates the rights and duties which inhere in a functional analysis of roles related to the ends of economic activity. One should note especially the use of such ideas in analysis of social situations by judge and lawyer long before their adoption into sociology. One may also see court decisions in view of modern and ancient technologies. Kinship can be seen as inhibiting property controversies which arise where it does not obtain. And finally, one can see the struggle to change older decisions while also seeing the probable limits to that struggle as long as the present frame of reference is used in these law courts.

The purpose of this article is to examine the relation between the economic and the social dimensions of the community. Most of the data were derived from an earlier study to determine the critical dimensions of the community and its underlying structure. The county is the unit of observation employed because of the absence of data for the sociological community. This poses a problem, however, since of course counties often include more than one community. Nevertheless, the ever-changing boundaries of the sociological community render longitudinal studies almost impossible. Moreover, consensus is lacking among social scientists concerning the meaning of the concept of community. Several other rather compelling facts make the county a valuable unit for study. Use of the county by agricultural extension workers, city and regional planners testifies to its acceptance and value as a unit of observation. Perhaps the most cogent argument favoring use of the county is its permanency as a governmental unit. Use of the county presents a serious limitation, however, in that one is unable to deal with intracounty variations in the level of economic activity, despite the fact that typically substantial variations exist from community to community.