ABSTRACT
This chapter examines one neglected process that affects social integration: the effects of affluence on people's mutual dependence and solidary ties. This also has implications for social personality and social problems. Cooperation was governed by a system of mutual rights and obligations that could be withheld from those who did not observe reciprocity or other valued beliefs and conventions. Social mobility which is rooted in expanding opportunities makes the person independent of the group and its controls, undermining reciprocity and solidarity. Underprivileged youth in government programs pursued either vocational training or a college education. Higher education may defer a student's reaching full adult responsibility -or his social maturity. The person-group relationship is commonly played out in the form of social mobility which remains a powerful value in American life. Opportunities always mediate the relations of a member to any group.
