ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the case of sociology, and analyses colony–metropole relations in two historical moments: Australian colonies’ role in the making of sociology in the second half of the nineteenth century; and the forming of an academic discipline of sociology in Australian universities from the 1950s to the 1970s. The creation of a higher education system in Australia exactly coincided with the invention of sociology in the metropole. When research programs within the new sociological episteme finally appeared in Australia, they were outgrowths from social anthropology and social psychology. Present generation of social researchers forged a new relationship with metropolitan sociology. Australia ceased to be a data mine, an economy exporting facts. Most of these studies were published in Australia and remained unknown in the metropole. As Australian sociologists became more sophisticated in using the metropolitan tools, they began to publish in metropolitan journals.
