Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/557

 THE DEFINITION OF THE CITY 543

origin, the village is only the development of a clan. It com- prises a true undivided family, a community closely cemented through collective responsibility. And although the modern village is composed of a number of families living separately, these families are units too restricted and otherwise too loosely held together to constitute true social divisions. They do not affect the village's organization, which remains homogeneous and simple.

The second category of social establishments has to do with complex establishments, i. e., with numerous forms of distinct social groups; those which we will term cities. They have vari- ous degrees of complexity, and the combination of their parts is effected in different ways. But two characteristics, which con- stitute the definition of the city, are common to all: a primary and a secondary characteristic.

I. Ordinarily the city is defined as an aggregation, or to be more specific, as a contraction of the community or of a part of the community. This, however, is not for our purposes the most important characteristic. It is rather the fact that the city is a complex community, i. e., formed from a number of secondary groups. ^^ The city is a community composed of an aggregation of smaller communities, such as families, professional groups, etc. Thus it is conceived, not as a simple geographic fact, nor even as a simple industrial phenomenon, but as a social fact. The city is not to be regarded as an isolated phenomenon, sui generis. It is a community (societe), which must be identified, because of its characteristics, with a certain social type, and which differs from other communities of the same class only in degree.

II. In effect, within this class of complex communities, there exist communities of two types. Those of one kind have a definite localization, within varying limits of course, but always closely connected with a certain portion of territory. The others are personal associations without geographical localization. The local clan, the village, the province, the nation, are communities

which are so many small republics which have their laws, their customs, their jargon " — Caractdres, chap, vii, p. 4.
 * La Bruyere has said, "The city is partitioned into diverse commimities