From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Community Organization/Raymond Breton
The organization of ethnic communities can vary considerably. It can include an extensive range of activities – educational, economic, religious, cultural, communications, recreational, and social assistance to the needy. It also involves the management of community affairs and of relations to governments and other institutions in the larger society. The wider the range of sectors of activity that it encompasses, the more institutionally complete is the organization of the community.
Within any particular sector, there may be several organizations in relations of exchange, collaboration, or competition with one another. Thus the organization of particular areas of activity can vary in size and complexity. Some sectors, such as religion, culture, media, or governmental relations, may be highly developed, while others, including social assistance, aid to families, employment and housing, language training, and education, are relatively neglected. Thus one community may be low in institutional completeness and still have many organizations in one or two fields, while another may be high in institutional completeness, although it has relatively few organizations, because these are spread across a wide range of sectors.
The structure of informal relations in an ethnic collectivity is another important element of its community organization. These include family, friendship, and neighbourhood networks. Individuals establish relations of support (material and emotional), exchange, and solidarity, as well as those based on competition, opposition, and animosity. This informal community structure underlies the more formal system of associations and organizations. It tends to be reflected in patterns of collaboration and exchange or of competition and conflict among participants within or between organizations. It may thus be one of the reasons why the same individuals are frequently involved in several community institutions, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “interlocking associational officerships.”
As the number and proportion of immigrants in an ethnic collectivity decrease, so does the degree of institutional completeness. Indeed, persons of second and later generations tend to use the institutions of the larger society for most of their needs and aspirations. Thus ethnic community organizations respond less to the identity, cultural, and status needs of second and later generations than they do for immigrants. In addition, since many members of non-immigrant generations do not maintain relations with the ethnic community, the number of organizations within each domain of activity also tends to decrease over time.
