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How can we write the history of the category of “space” in the social sciences of the twentieth century? The investigation is intended to be exploratory, and to question the many configurations and scholarly circulations that punctuate the multiple uses of “space”. In order to complicate the traditional genealogy of the concept, this article traces its trajectory and transformations from its formulations in geography and sociology at the turn of 1900, with the reception of Friedrich Ratzel’s work. It also looks back at the importance of a pivotal period, the 1940s and 1950s, which saw the emergence of a new technical environment and the spread of concepts derived from psychology. For this reason, we examine specific moments in time, from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, as well as the many players involved in this history (Pierre Francastel, Paul-Henry Chombart de Lauwe, Jean-Pierre Vernant, etc.).