Community Consolidation through Institutions: An Analysis of the Micro-institutions of Small-Scale Groups

This paper examines how institutionalized small-scale groups have emerged from the perspective of the relationship between institutions and human communities.Birds of a feather flock together;people cluster in groups;and communities are consolidated by institutions.Small-scale groups emerge from direct human interactions in daily production and life.They are not loose crowds,but stable social organizational entities.Only through institutionalization can they achieve stability and continuity.The institutions of small-scale groups arise from both natural selection and deliberate choices in daily production and life,as well as from state-imposed structures that have been internalized within the group.Their primary function is to preserve the group's integrity,enabling it to function as an autonomous unit;their core function is to regulate interpersonal relations within the group,achieving "order within the group " through " division within the group ".However,institutional functions do not materialize spontaneously.Institutions inherently embody power and depend on it for their sustainability.Their operation is sustained through a combination of centralization and diffusion,as well as soft power and hard power.Moreover,institutions require governance for their protection—continuous governance activities transform them into habitual behaviors.