Abstract
The issue of the relationship of sociology to history, a recurrent one since the origins of social sciences, is today particularly relevant to the sociologist of the penal system. Several reasons lead to a reassesment of this sociology: the failure of classic paradigms, the difficulties of replacing them fruitfully, the sudden changes in the basic elements of the penal problem, the violence of public debate on this issue. Since the sociologists who tried to act as historians have not been successful, we must turn now towards a dialogue of history and sociology, and "interdisciplinary" reanalysis of the results of both in this field. At first, we must tackle some preliminary conceptual and methodological problems.