ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at providing an understanding of the historical context of the emergence of sociology as a distinct social science. An in-depth analysis of socio-economic and political conditions prevailing in Europe in the post-Renaissance period would enable the learner to acknowledge the need for a distinct discipline that could study society and its dynamics in a scientific manner. Further, an introduction to intellectual debates during the Enlightenment period would help the learner understand both goals of sociology and means (in terms of methodology) that were advocated by the founding fathers of the discipline. Last but not the least, an attempt is made to help the learner understand the relevance of sociology in our daily life using C.W. Mills’s idea of ‘sociological imagination’.
