Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-539) and index.

"This book is a history of the field of sociology as it existed from the interwar, wartime, and postwar periods in France and its Empire. T his does not refer just to sociologists who did some work in the coloni es, or occasionally thought about them in their metropolitan work, but a specific field which was constituted to understand and then govern th ese colonies. The author argues that the re-founding of French sociolog y during and after World War II - which spawned the likes of Raymond Ar on, Jacques Berque, Georges Balandier, and Pierre Bourdieu - occurred w ithin the context of the re-founding of the French empire. Though there was been much discussion of "decolonizing" sociology in the postwar pe riod, the deep history of sociology's connection to French colonialism and empire has been ignored when, the author argues, it is central. The main driver of the expansion of sociology in this period was colonial developmentalism. Sociologists became favored partners of colonial gove rnments, applying their expertise to an array of "social problems," suc h as de-tribalization, poverty, labor migration, rapid urbanization and the growth of shantytowns, and the decay of traditional families and r eligious beliefs, and working on "modernizing" solutions. Many sociolog ists whose careers began in the overseas colonies formulated concepts a nd theories that quickly entered metropolitan (and then global) sociolo gy, and their origins were forgotten. Steinmetz examines the ways in co lonial sociologists differed from the rest of the discipline -in many w ays they represented its most dynamic cutting edge-and how their locati ons may have affected their intellectual agendas and scholarship. He ex plores the ways in which these sociologists networked and tracks their major intellectual innovations and influence as a group. He also explor es the marginalization faced by both sociologists working in the coloni es and those born there, while showing the ways in which they were able to overcome them. The specific challenges of colonial sociology-includ ing some very strongly anticolonial colonial sociologists-shaped sociol ogical theory in ways that are still dominant. The book amounts to a hi storical sociology of French academia all told-with an emphasis on soci ology and other human sciences-as well as a collective biography of man y of the major figures, many who are continually read and cited to this day"-- Provided by publisher.

"A new history of French social thought that connects postwar sociol ogy to colonialism and empireIn this provocative and original retelling of the history of French social thought, George Steinmetz places the h istory and development of modern French sociology in the context of the French empire after World War II. Connecting the rise of all the socia l sciences with efforts by France and other imperial powers to consolid ate control over their crisis-ridden colonies, Steinmetz argues that co lonial research represented a crucial core of the renascent academic di scipline of sociology, especially between the late 1930s and the 1960s. Sociologists, who became favored partners of colonial governments, wer e asked to apply their expertise to such "social problems" as detribali zation, urbanization, poverty, and labor migration. This colonial orien tation permeated all the major subfields of sociological research, Stei nmetz contends, and is at the center of the work of four influential sc holars: Raymond Aron, Jacques Berque, Georges Balandier, and Pierre Bou rdieu.In retelling this history, Steinmetz develops and deploys a new m ethodological approach that combines attention to broadly contextual fa ctors, dynamics within the intellectual development of the social scien ces and sociology in particular, and close readings of sociological tex ts. He moves gradually toward the postwar sociologists of colonialism a nd their writings, beginning with the most macroscopic contexts, which included the postwar "reoccupation" of the French empire and the turn t o developmentalist policies and the resulting demand for new forms of s ocial scientific expertise. After exploring the colonial engagement of researchers in sociology and neighboring fields between and after 1945, he turns to detailed examinations of the work of Aron, who created a s ociology of empires; Berque, the leading historical sociologist of Nort h Africa; Balandier, the founder of French Africanist sociology; and Bo urdieu, whose renowned theoretical concepts were forged in war-torn, la te-colonial Algeria"-- Provided by publisher.