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‪Gaston Bouthoul’s conception of a “synthetic or general sociology” was first set out in his ‪‪Traité de sociologie‪‪ (1946). It drew on the division into two parts—static and dynamic—that Auguste Comte had introduced into this new science, and gave rise to a series of developments concerning the discipline’s history, its object, its methods, and its relations with the other social sciences. In addition to offering a critical account of sociological theories that had hitherto been developed, the ‪‪Traité‪‪ also presents original features, such as the emphasis on mentalities and the important place assigned to social psychology in the explanation of social processes.‪