Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

People are tied up in all kinds of group affiliations, some deriving from biological attributes-sex, race and family ties-and others founded on an historical base-a shared national, cultural, linguistic, gender,' or religious disposition or alliance. Based on a different point of departure, one could distinguish between, on the one hand, an inter-individual community which comprises a group of persons sharing a particular social identity or commitment such as a distinct national, ethnic, or linguistic extraction, and on the other, a group entity that constitutes a structured or organized social entity, such as the state, a church institution, or a business corporation. Looking at the activities that are exercised within these distinct group settings, one could differentiate between those that comprise acts which members of the group can perform individually or jointly with other members of the group, as opposed to those that can only be exercised by the collective entity through the agency of its authorized executive organs and which would as a matter of law be binding on the entire group. There is yet a further distinction to be made that is vital to a proper understanding of the complexities of social relations and institutions: there are those communities and social entities to which persons belong on a more or less involuntary basis (institutional group entities), as against the ones of which membership is conditioned by the free choice to join or to exit from the group (non-institutional group entities).

Accessibility Requirements

1

Download

Share

COinS