Abstract
Various aspects of change in social institutions of traditional societies have been well documented in the literature. The persistence of these institutions is often mentioned in sociological reports, but is seldom reconstructed in theoretical terms.
Using social system theory as a basis, we can derive the following three propositions: first, as long as a social group maintains social relations with other social groups within a social system, the social group in question will survive. Second, if economic or non-economic social relations are maintained, then the social group will persist. Finally, if both economic and non-economic social relations are lost, the social group will disintegrate, as it will no longer satisfy functional requisites.
We studied a Dozoku in a farming community in Akita Prefecture. The data show that economic relations traditionally supported within the Dozoku have disappeared, but social relations in other categories have survived. From these results we conclude that the Dozoku continues to survive.
