The faculty of Social Sciences at Stockholm University, like its sister faculties at the other large universities in Sweden, celebrates its 50th birthday this year. The Swedish faculties of social science were established following a governmental decision in 1964. Some of the senior people still active at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Stockholm were young teachers or students at the time, a couple of years before the big student ‘population boom’ and the by now legendary student revolution. The faculty has for most of this time been a central part of the working machinery of the University, in charge of the oversight over teaching and with independent responsibility for the quality of research. For those who are part of the Faculty Board or its different commissions, or for the staff of the Faculty Office, the Faculty shapes everyday life. Still, for most of the staff and students within the Faculty, it is a relatively anonymous entity. Life at the university is mainly lived within a departmental context. The chapter paints the picture of universities in Stockholm in general and the social sciences in particular in the years preceding the birth of the Faculty of Social Sciences.