This document summarizes key points from lectures by Cedric Robinson and Raewyn Connell on the origins and development of sociology in relation to imperialism. Robinson argues that Marxism fails to account for racial capitalism and the role of racial hierarchies in the development of European bourgeoisies and imperial nations. Connell shows how early sociology emerged from imperial metropoles to rationalize colonial domination through concepts of progress and primitive cultures. Both critiqued how sociology universalized the particular experiences of European societies and elided the central role of imperialism.