Studying history and thinking historically have been sources of inspirations for sociologists of theory building and theory elaboration, since the days of Max Weber. Great thinkers in sociology have always combined their analysis of contemporary societies with that of history. This course gives an introduction to historical approaches in contemporary sociology. Students are encouraged to read the assigned readings, not simply to analyze them as completed works, but to find inspirations for developing their own future research projects. In other words, this introductory seminar intends to help students not to become “consumers of theories,” but to develop the abilities to make their own theoretical elaboration through engaging original historically-informed research projects. For this purpose, these reading materials include diverse approaches to history.