The use of historical research methods in modern sociology has been largely conditioned by the relative popularity of the specialty area of (comparative-)historical sociology, despite the relative autonomy of methodological orientation and substantive research themes. Any discussion of historical research, whether in the specialty area of social movements research or in sociology more generally, must therefore proceed from the place of history in sociology and embark on an always difficult quest, for intellectual and institutional reasons alike, to delineate the boundaries between the scholarly tradition of history, on the one hand, and sociology, on the other.