The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the methods and techniques which are employed by sociologists, to place them in the context of historical study and to demonstrate how they have been, or might be, used to benefit the historian's examination of the past. In doing this I had hoped to be able to move away from a discussion about the nature of the two disciplines, and concentrate more immediately on the practical task that is embodied in the title of the paper. The longer I considered the presentation of the material, however, the greater became my conviction that it is impossible to separate the methods of a discipline from its nature and purposes, and that any adequate consideration of the relevance of sociological techniques to historical study must include a discussion of the distinctive features of the two disciplines along with the contribution that each can make to the other.