Loosely coupled educational organizations exhibit structural similarities to preliterate societies in their lack of formal leadership and control. The identification of social outsiders as "witches" to explain disasters affecting preliterate societies may have its counterpart in educational organizations when nonconformists are…

Presents ethnographic analyses of two school boards which are characterized by their decision-making processes. One is described as elite (conflict exists between the board and the dominant need of the public), the other as arena (representative segments of the public conflict with one another). (KC)

The anthropological field study approach is said to provide a means of breaking through the present conceptual framework that purports to understand complex phenomena by breaking them up into separate variables. (AM)

Formal organizations or social subsystems are defined in this anthropological field study as the municipal government and the urban school district. The school district is fiscally dependent on the municipal government for the financial resources essential for its operations. Within the realm of educational finance, policy decisions of either of…

The issue of national recognition for graduate academic departments is discussed with specific reference to educational administration programs. A sample of 47 educational administration departments that hold membership in the University Council for Educational Administration were surveyed. A conceptual approach based on anthropological studies…

Attention to the politics of education particularly as operated within urban school boards using the concept of elite-arena councils is drawn in this paper. A brief summary of the data and the political-anthropological concepts used to analyze the data, conclusions and recommendations based on those data, and their analysis are presented. The…