The discussion in chapter 9 addressed why power holders and social influentials can be expected to institutionalize internal procedural restraints in particular. This was followed, in chapter 10, by a discussion of why procedural voluntaristic restraints in general are “available” for transfer. Now it is possible to assess conceptually collegial formations' current status and future prospects within contemporary nation-states. Along the way, other issues come to the fore as well, including: First, the relationship between the theory of societal constitutionalism and other theoretical approaches to social order. Second, how the presence of collegial formations affects the stratification system. Third, how both authoritarian and nonauthoritarian directions of social change develop beyond the limiting case of authoritarian social order. And, fourth, how the presence of collegial formations within selected sectors of a civil society can affect how power holders act and propose actions across an entire civil society.

Speculations on collegial formations today: two restraints not Institutionalized

Collegial formations today fail to restrain two sets of social activities that they could restrain to some greater extent if their integrity were upheld as a matter of public policy. Yet, they restrain a third set of social activities because, by definition, their members' behavior is oriented by voluntaristic procedures. This third contribution of restraint is what accounts for the collegial form's modest links to social power today. It also provides social scientists with a standard by which to gauge whether collegial formations are maintaining or losing their integrity.