Originally published in English in 1962, this book presents in clear language an account of the growth of sociology from its earliest roots in the Enlightenment, through the 19th century philosophers in Germany, positivists in France, social workers in England, the theorists in America, through the pioneering days of the early and middle part of the 20th century.

Introduction; Part One The Development of Social Theory up to the First World War; Chapter I The Antecedents of Sociology; Chapter II The Beginnings: Comte and Spencer; Chapter III Early German Sociology; Chapter IV Social Darwinism in Europe; Chapter V Sociology in Great Britain; Chapter VI Italian Criminology and Crowd Psychology; Chapter VII Russia's Pre-Revolutionary Sociology; Chapter VIII Belgian Sociology; Chapter IX American Social Science; Chapter X The German School; Chapter XI Durkheim, His School and His Opponents; Chapter XII The Formation of American Sociology; Part Two Sociology in Modern Times; Chapter XIII Notes on German Sociology; Chapter XIV American Sociology Faces Reality; Chapter XV American Social Research; Chapter XVI American Sociological Theory And Teaching; Part Three World-wide Sociology; Chapter XVII Eastern Europe; Chapter XVIII Sociology in the Near and Far East; Chapter XIX Latin-American Sociology; Chapter XX Sociology in Western Europe Today: I; Chapter XXI Sociology in Western Europe Today II: Germany, France & Great Britain;