It certainly isn't natural English - I guess it was either translated or written by a non-native speaker. The meaning would only be a guess, as it needs more context. My guess is that small communities have some control over the families that live within them.

The writer is talking about differences in village structures between eastern and western Japan, and about the dimension of "control of hamlet community on households" says that is stronger in the East than in the West.

Can you provide the context?