Sociology as a science was taught irregularly in a number of colleges in Iraq during the 1920s the 1930s and the 1940s. It was not taught by specialists, nor by persons who had any training in sociology, but rather by different people whose specialities ranged through law, psychology, economics, history, and other disciplines.
The 1950s were a milestone in the development of sociology in Iraq. During this decade sociology became recognized as a separate social science discipline justifying specialization. Thus, early in the decade, a department of sociology came into being at the College of Arts. Subsequently a department of social work was set up in the Girls College. By the end of 1950, the department had five faculty members, four with Ph.D.s and one with an M.A. and with the exception of one all graduates of United States universities.
The 1960s also witnessed three major events which have a significant impact on the future growth and development of sociology in Iraq: the establishment of the Iraqi Sociological Association, of the M.A. programme is sociology, and of the National Center for Social and Criminological Research.
Most of the sociological literature written by the Iraqi sociologists trend to be in Arabic and of general nature. It covers the origin and the development of the disciplines, it’s different branches, it’s methods etc. Few items are of empirical nature dealing with Iraq society, these items by and large tend to be either M.A. or Ph.D. dissertations.