They believed that surrealism's focus on the unconscious privileged the individual over society, and obscured the social dimension of human experience.
The group drew on work in anthropology and sociology which focused on the way that human communities engaged in collective rituals or acts of distribution such as potlatch.
It was here, in moments of intense communal experience, rather than the individualistic dreams and reveries of surrealism, that the College of Sociology sought the essence of humanity.
The group met for two years and lectured on many topics, including the structure of the army, the Marquis de Sade, English monarchy, literature, sexuality, Hitler, and Hegel.
This focus, and in particular their interest in indigenous cultures, was part of a wider trend towards primitivism of the time.