Two papers are presented which were given before the Social Science Section of the 1968 Annual Conference of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The first paper reports on the results of a research effort designed to identify factors associated with successful relocation of people from a rural or small community environment into large, industrialized metropolitan areas. Two principal factors pointed out as enhancing the chances of successful adjustment are the existence of a training and counseling program for the guidance workers before relocation and the availability of mobility money for relocation expenses. The second paper deals with the power structure of small communities, based on the comparison of 2 communities in Texas with widely divergent types of economic bases. (JM)