Before revision: Stone noted two uses of prosopography as an historian's tool : first , in uncovering deeper interests and connections beneath the superficial rhetoric of politics, in order to examine the structure of the political machine ; and second, in analysing the changing roles in society of particular status groups—holders of offices, members of associations—and assessing social mobility through family origins and social connections of recruits to those offices or memberships.
After revision: Stone noted two uses of prosopography as an historian's tool : first , in uncovering deeper interests and connections beneath the superficial rhetoric of politics, in order to examine the structure of the political machine and in analysing the changing roles in society of status groups—holders of offices, members of associations—and assessing social mobility through family origins and social connections of recruits to those offices or memberships.