Sociological perspectives are employed in this study of two desegregated junior high schools with racially and socioeconomically similar student bodies. The different ways staff members, students and administrators in the two schools address the tasks of pursuing education while maintaining safety and order are analyzed. Situations and incidents indicative of authority and control are described in terms of social structures and processes which shape behavior, actions of formal and informal leaders, and tension, conflict and crisis. Contradictions between the bureaucratic structures and the teachers' need for autonomy in dealing with technological problems are used to illustrate organizational impact on social structures. The sources of data are described and a comprehensive bibliography is also included. (Author/EB)