A Comparative Analysis of Histories of the Sociology of Knowledge

The history of the sociology of knowledge has been studied by multiple scholars since shortly after its emergence as a legitimate arena of endeavour. In this paper, a selected sample of recent historiographies reveal how the field has changed over the decades, altering in focus, developing new questions, and expanding into new areas. Each of these texts offer a typology of this history, analysing observed changes in approach and content, and variously assessing each period of scholarship in the sociology of knowledge as a stage of 'health', 'revival', 'decline' or 'stagnation'. When the typologies are compared, significant variation can be found, even though each is apparently describing the 'same history'. Analysis indicates that the process of writing a history, and composing a typology of the field's major shifts, is dependent on such factors as the theoretical framework of the historiographer, their theoretical and research interests and experiences, and whether they conceive the sociology of knowledge to be a disciplinary speciality or a field with a specific methodology.