The study of sociology in Bosnia and Herzegovina begins with the founding of the Chair of Philosophy in 1956. The Department was initially active as part of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology, but in 2010 the Department of Sociology became independent. The first instructors at the Department (since 1956) were professors Ante Fiamengo, Andrija Krešić, Ivan Focht, and Šefkija Žuljević. A few years later, the Department strengthened its teaching staff with the addition of new instructors and associates: Vanja Sutlić, Muhamed Filipović, Abdulah Šarčević, Ante Pažanin, and Olga Kozomara.
Since 2010, the Department has offered a programme in fundamental disciplines of sociology and current issues relevant to contemporary times. In this sense, the Department of Sociology has continued its research into disciplines that fall within the area of social and political thought and, as such, it corresponds to similar sociology programmes in academic communities around the world. The Department periodically organises regional and international conferences in the social sciences, thus legitimising itself on the international academic scene. In terms of academic research, members of the Department have defended doctoral dissertations that critique the most significant names and problems in classic and contemporary sociology and address issues including critiques of the Western European model of society, contemporary theoretical and empirical problems, theoretical and historical sociology (general sociology, history of social and political thought), special sociologies (the sociology of culture, the sociology of religion, the sociology of urban space, the sociology of communication, social ecology, social anthropology, the sociology of the family, the sociology of elites, etc.), the sociology of knowledge and science, and systematic sociologies (political sociology, industrial sociology). Numerous master's theses and doctoral dissertations have been awarded by the Department. The sociology programme is currently organised into three study cycles: undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies. In 2017/18, a new programme in Sociology and Ethnology was established as an interdisciplinary programme that involves interdepartmental cooperation and is the first programme in ethnology in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Currently, the following individuals are employed at the Department of Sociology: Dr. Salih Fočo, full professor; Dr. Ivo Komšić, emeritus; Dr. Vedad Muharemović, assistant professor; Dr. Adnan Fočo, assistant professor; Dr. Jelena Gaković, teaching associate, and teaching assistant Tomislav Tadić, MA. The Department of Sociology contributes to the cultural, political and public life in Bosnia and Herzegovina because its members are actively involved in all social processes that are taking place in the country and they hold the highest political and public offices in the country (Dr. Ivo Komšić was a member of the Presidency of BiH, speaker of the House of Peoples of FBIH and mayor of Sarajevo, as well as the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy; Dr. Salih Fočo served twice as dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and vice dean of the University of Sarajevo). Also, a number of external associates work as instructors at the Department of Sociology.
The programme is organised with the following study combinations:
- sociology as a single subject study programme;
- a combined study of sociology and another study group (art history and sociology, sociology and pedagogy, philosophy and sociology, etc.);
- sociology and ethnology.
The study of sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo is the first programme in social sciences of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having been established shortly after the Second World War. The Department of Philosophy and Sociology and the Chair of Sociology, therefore, by educating professionals in the field, is directly responsible for the establishing of similar study programmes at the University of Sarajevo and across universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and can be considered their predecessor.