Review of The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought: French Sociology and the Overseas Empire by George Steinmetz

Scholars of the history of disciplines such as anthropology and geography have long been interested in their colonial origins and co-emergence with different imperial projects of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But what about sociology? George Steinmetz argues that it, too, emerged in the context of colonial rule. The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought is a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in understanding the colonial underpinnings of French sociology, the social sciences, and social thought more broadly. Steinmetz’s monumental book does more than revise histories of sociology that privilege the urban and industrialized West. It furthers a program for interdisciplinary work in the social sciences that bridges sociology and history and is bound to generate debate for years to come