National Library of France

Search Form

  Collections and services

Digital resources

Catalogs

Catalogue général de la BnF

Where to consult the documents ?

Ask a librarian

SINDBAD is a free virtual reference service providing document references and factual information. Ask a librarian (SINDBAD)

Sociology

From the works of the founding fathers to the diversity of contemporary social sciences: history and current developments in sociology.

Sociology books and journals

The Bibliothèque nationale de France holds sizable collections on sociology, from the foundations of the discipline through to the most recent publications, at the François Mitterrand Library (Site François-Mitterrand). As well as French, these include materials in English, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.
Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim, by an unknown photographer

© BnF

The Library’s collections reflect the diversity of fields of study within contemporary sociology. In order of importance, they include the following:
  • the history, theory, and methodology of sociology and the social sciences
  • the corpora of leading sociologists 
  • studies on social structure 
  • the sociology of work and professions 
  • the sociology of culture and lifestyle 
  • rural and urban sociology 
  • the sociology of religion 
  • the sociology of education
A large portion of the collections is also dedicated to the most dynamic fields in interdisciplinary research: work on the concept of “gender”, women and feminism, cultural studies, and the sociology of law, deviance, and criminality.

The interdisciplinary nature of the social sciences is also represented by various works on sociolinguistics, the sociology of reading, and the sociology of science.

The Reference library offers classic works within the discipline and associated critical studies, together with a wide range of contemporary works: introductory and academic textbooks as well as more specialized research works. The majority of this open-access collection is in English.

The Research library includes a higher proportion of foreign language materials, as well as major works by French and foreign sociologists starting in the late 19th century, when the discipline was born. In particular, it holds original editions of publications by Emile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto, and Ferdinand Tönnies, as well as founding journals such as l’Année sociologique and la Réforme sociale, the work of Frédéric Le Play and his disciples. Also available are complete collections of a large number of foreign journals, such as the American Journal of Sociology.

Monday, February 7, 2011