European Sociology Today
European Sociology Today

Summary/Abstract: Although it is true that sociology was born in Nineteenth-century France – at least as far as the name is concerned – with Auguste Comte, it is equally true that the years between the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries were decisive in establishing it as a university-level discipline, despite the resistance of a number of antisociological philosophical and historical currents and positions ideologically opposed against anything addressing social matters. It must be noted with equal emphasis that the French contribution alone would not suffice to explain what occurred afterwards, especially in Germany and the rest of Europe, Spain and Portugal, Italy and Switzerland, just to name the territories closest to and bordering, more or less, on France itself. Several histories of sociology have already outlined the dynamics of the contributions made by countries other than France during the early stages of the discipline. But the contextual references are generally of a national nature. It would be well worthwhile, therefore, to promote a European-wide analysis of the issue: a dedicated research project might constitute a starting point for further initiatives aimed at consolidating, for example, the network set up in 2003 in Lisbon by Portugal, Spain, France and Italy (and joined at a later stage by Greece), and formalized in 2007 as RESU, that is, the Réseau des Associations de Sociologie de l’Europe et des Pays du Sud [Network of the Sociological Associations of Europe and Southern Countries]. The same can be said for the Balkan Forum founded in 2011 in Tirana, with participation of Albania and Bulgaria.

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