Specific objectives of this study were to (1) obtain information about the pattern of young children's social studies concept attainment, (2) compare basic concept attainment with social studies concept attainment, and (3) compare basic concept development of children from two age/grade levels. A total of 24 kindergarten and 28 first graders of middle socioeconomic status were interviewed individually during a 35 to 45 minute session. The assessment instrument consisted of two sets of tasks: those measuring social concepts and those measuring basic concepts. No significant differences were found for race or sex. However, significant differences were found between the two grades in both total basic concept and total social concept scores. First graders obtained higher scores than kindergarteners on both measures. It was also indicated that knowledge of social concepts developed in tandem with basic concept growth and that concept development remained about the same from kindergarten to first grade. Results suggested that this line of research will provide needed clarification of the parameters of young children's social studies concepts and provide empirical information to guide the choice of key concepts for social studies instruction. (BJD)