Sociologists Before the 1950s

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the social stratification of the practitioners in sociology in France until the 1950s and, beyond, to search the reasons that have maintained sociology in a marginal status in the French university system during this period. First, I consider the Durkheimian School and present the data that explain the reason of its success in the rivalry with other practitioners in the discipline. Second, I argue that the Durkheimians occupied a dominated position inside the dominant group and, because of that, they could not subvert the rules of the French university system. On the contrary, they were assimilated by it and were submitted to play a role relegated to relation to the traditional stablished disciplines.