New, more accurate formulations of the autonomy and stress transfer principles are proposed. Quantitative characteristics of autonomy are defined. An examination is made of characteristics determining quantitatively the participation of various types of deformation (with contact fixation or disturbance) in consolidation (sintering, sintering under pressure, shaping) and characteristics determining the degree of localization of deformation. These characteristics can be expressed in the form of various functions of the paramter ω — the fraction of the volume of particles displaced as a result of flow of the material of a critical zone. The possibility of determining certain characteristics by experiment is demonstrated.