ABSTRACT
Both society and polity in developed non-communist countries have become pluralist - each in a new and unprecedented way and each also in a different way. The new pluralism in society focuses on function and performance. It is a pluralism of single-purpose organizations each concerned with one social task: wealth creation or schooling or health care or forming the values and habits of the young. The new pluralist organization of society has no interest in government and governance. Unlike the earlier pluralist institutions, it is not a 'whole'. It is an 'organ' of society. In some ways the new pluralism is thus far more flexible, far less divisive than the old pluralism. The new institutions do not encroach on political power as did the old pluralist institutions, whether medieval church, feudal baron or free city. The new pluralism often transcends traditional geographic boundaries.
