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The problem of the relationship of government to to culture is an
interesting one, but apparently often neglected. The political scientist studies
the form and structure, the methods of administration, even the different
classes or interest groups represented. But he rarely examines the impact of
his special interest on the society as a whole. The anthropologist in turn
may see government as a less fruitful area of study because the behavior is
so formalized, so rationalized, and often so complex that it does not easily
reveal the "more fundamental" values or patterns of a culture.

Certainly the effect of government on culture is not [gap]
all societies. If we consider only [gap] and change
for example, we can imagine that a government could have widely varying effects.
It could heavily favor the traditional aspects of the culture - seek to restore and
extend ancient ceremonies, provide legal security for traditional forms of property or
status, prevent entry of new forms or new groups into the community, educate the young
in all the traditional values. At the other extreme, the government could be quite
culturally revolutionary - announce traditional values and suppress their expression,
promote changes in social and economic structure which undermine the
traditional culture, elevate new status groups to [gap]
guide education so as to transmit to the youth a new set of values. Between these
extremes there are of course many degrees of activity or passiviety with which the government
may find itself related to the culture.

This paper proposes to focus specifically on the city government of Beutelsbach. It
seeks to explain in particular the effect of the city administration on one important aspect
of culture - cultural transmission and change.
It begins with descriptive material on the structure and activities
of the government, which incidentally includes some information on the
town's social organization. This material alone might be valuable and sufficient
for examining several problems; but to interpret it properly as to
it's role in cultural change, we need other outside information. The second
section of the paper examines relations with the "outside
world." Then in the final section some of these two sets of facts are brought together
and their dynamic effects on the traditional culture are suggested.

The City Government - Structure and Activity

The Regal foundation of Beutelsbach government lies in a booklet entitled
"Die Gemeindeordnung fur Baden-Wurttemberg" (The Regulations for
Communities of Baden Wurttemburg). This specifies the duties and rights of the
three elements of the government - citizens, council, and mayor, and has many
sections on internal administrative regulations, fiscal policies, inspection procedures,
etc. Beyond this there are many rulings by the "Gemeinderat" (city council)
which specifiy duties and restrictions in those areas left to the city in the
constitution. One example: each Beutelsbach is responsible for cleaning the
street before his own house.