COMMUNITY IN TRANSITION: A STUDY OF MOUND BAYOU, MISSISSIPPI

The viability of any community is questionable during periods of transition and socio-economic change. For this reason social change mechanisms have historically received much attention from sociologists. Community studies, such as Caste and Class in a Southern Town (1957) Small Town in Mass Society (1968) and numerous others, have attempted to understand the forces of change that have fostered community prosperity and integration or social disorganization.;The method of study can best be characterized as qualitative utilizing as primary data collection modes, intensive interviewing and participant observation. The data collection process also included published and unpublished historical materials. The battery of data gathering techniques used was intended to bring to bear as much information as possible about the community that might impact the social processes under observation. The study makes no strict claims of objectivity but rather attempts to generate a number of useful generalizations about the nature of social change as it impacts the future disposition of Mound Bayou, Mississippi.;This study, in the vein of other community studies, is focused to gain a perspective on the impact of economic change on social processes in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, the largest all-black town in America. In a state where race and agriculture tend to characterize most aspects of life, an all-black town is relatively isolated from many of the structural and normative processes found in more integrated societies; for this reason this study of Mound Bayou gives special attention to the process of adjustment to emerging industrial economic realities, to changes in its class structure and the role of rural traditional values in maintaining mechanisms of community commitment and integration. More specifically, the first area of concentration deals primarily with the impact of Mound Bayou's history as a rural all-black community on it's current normative and structural composition. The second area of concentration deals with the impact of socio-economic processes on the structure of life today in Mound Bayou. The third area of concentration is primarily concerned with the role and disposition of traditional values in maintaining community integration mechanisms and techniques of personal adjustment as these occur in the face of social, institutional and cultural cleavages.