Small approaches the study of sociology from the methodological side. His writings cover a period of more than a quarter of a century, and in themselves offer an opportunity to show the changes in part which have taken place in sociological thought in that period. His thinking is rare in that it shows a growing tendency and an ability to assimilate the modifying trends and movements in the general field. Since we are not attempting to trace the whole of his system of sociology, we shall not attempt to show those changes which may appear, but shall rely on the later points of view in so far as they bear upon the subject in hand. We may, however, point out an impression which a reading of the various publications has left, and that is, a growing emphasis upon the group concept as a tool of thought and explanation. Not that his thinking was ever individualistic, in the proper sense of the term, but that the group concept has become more sharply defined and has gradually assumed a more central and commanding position in his thinking. As will be pointed out later, Small's use of the organic concept in his earlier writings shows that the facts of group solidarity and social continuity, interdependence and unity, were in his thought from the beginning. But the explicit use of the group concept, as such, and its implications for sociology in particular, are increasingly apparent as one pursues a study of the writing in a chronological order. We shall have some hesitancy, therefore, in placing too much reliance on exact statements in General Sociology in so far as this particular problem concerns us. In other words, the effort will be to present Small's present views in regard to the group concept, rather than to trace a historical development of them.'