ABSTRACT
The distinction drawn between macro- and micro-sociology, a distinction made popular by Georges Gurvitc, is not a very clear-cut one. This chapter surveys the development of studies of social organisation and small groups, and focuses briefly at the work of sociologists who have investigated small communities. It concentrates on social groups, i.e. groups of persons, and on groupings of such groups, whether they are found in business, government, school, church, or community. The growth of role theory has proved to be a prominent feature in the development of sociology. The study of the small community has a long history, and one source lay in the work of the Chicago School, especially as influenced by anthropologists, which led to work on both rural communities and small urban areas, both slum districts and suburbia.
