Relationship between Sociology and History?

Sociology and History are very much interrelated. Sociology is becoming one of the most genuine fruits of history to which it is intimately connected. Sociology cannot be separated from History and History cannot be separated from Sociology. The two sciences are so close that some sociologists refused to accept Sociology as a science different from History. Therefore, John Seely remarked that “History without Sociology has no fruit; Sociology without History has no root’.

History is the chronological records of the past events or it is the reconstruction of man’s past. It is the story of the experience of mankind. It is the record of man’s life and achievements from the dim past to the present. History of culture and institutions is helpful in understanding the past society and activities.

Sociology, the science of society, on the other hand, is interested in the present. It tries to analyse human interactions and interrelations with all their complexity and diversity. The historian needs social background for writing and analysing History. The study of History can never be meaningful without the appreciation of sociological significance.

Both Sociology and, History depend upon each other and can influence one another. Sociology depends upon History in order to study past events and situations. That is why T. B. Bottomore has pointed out that “It is of the greatest importance for the development of the social sciences that the two subjects should be closely related and each should borrow extensively from the other.”