The sociology of the parish. After a brief description of the parish as a social system (§1), the empirical investigations are divided into two main categories (§2). In the external approach (I) either the relationship between outside variables as age, sex, socio-economic status and the religious behavior of the individual parishioners (A) or the interdependence between the geographic-historical environment and the religious life of the parish (B) is investigated. The internal approach (II) is illustrated by research into the role-relationships within the parish (A), the structure and function of parochial societies (B) and other sub-groups (C). It is argued that best strategy consists in a combination of both approaches, of which the internal one has to furnish the dominating point of view, which will facilitate the proper sociological integration of research findings (§3).
