What Should be Done about the History of British Sociology?

Abstract

This chapter deals with the writing of the history of sociology as an activity in Britain. Work on the history of sociology is not usually approached through the study of its institutions, but this chapter argues that they deserve much more attention than they have received. The British Sociological Association has not been merely a mirror or consequence of what was happening elsewhere; it has also been a motor of change and development which has had consequences for the history (as well as being of interest as an institution in its own right). This chapter reviews some of the ways in which the British Sociological Association has played a part in the more general history of sociology, in support of the argument for the value of more work on sociological institutions, leading into a more general discussion of lacunae in what has so far been treated and of some of the problems facing historical work in this field.