ABSTRACT
The “community as society” tradition of theorizing treats communities as small-scale versions of the larger society, analyzing each as a functional system of interdependent social institutions. The sociological term “social institution” is another concept that is neither clearly defined nor consistently used in the social-science literatures. Community is a social institution constructed to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the needs of groups of individuals and on the possibilities for the satisfaction of those needs open to the groups of individuals within their broader economic, political, societal, and cultural environment. Social institutions exist in a multitude of specific types on several different levels of social interaction, each depending on the particular needs it is intended to satisfy and on the conditions in which it is required to operate. According to the “social constructionist” view of reality, sexuality is not different from other aspects of human social life.
