Where translation studies and the social meet Setting the scene for ‘Translation in Society’ Luc van Doorslaer 1,2,3 & Jack McMartin 2 1 University of Tartu | 2 KU Leuven | 3 Stellenbosch University This article outlines some main developments that have led to the recent emergence of research on the ‘sociology of translation.’ Such research adopts approaches from the broader social sciences, particularly sociology, but is also directly related to the so-called ‘cultural turn’ within translation studies. The scope of translation research has subsequently expanded to include cul- tural and power-related issues, creating common ground with the social sci- ences both in terms of how translation is conceptualized and the methods used to study it. Translation has come to be understood as a socially situated relation with diference, just as translation practitioners and researchers have been understood as complex, situated agents acting within and across the social spheres that condition cross-cultural, multilingual exchange. This orientation opens the way for new discoveries at the intersection of transla- tion studies and the social sciences – work Translation in Society seeks to advance. Keywords: cultural turn, sociological turn, conceptualization, situatedness, social sciences, translator studies, sociology, power, networks Journals emerge when there is a shared but unmet need to explore new ground in or across disciplines. This article is a frst expression of an ongoing process to give shape to a new journal that consolidates interdisciplinary discourses between translation studies (TS) scholars and social scientists. Over the past decades, exchanges at this intersection have been varied and rich, but have also been spread over very diferent publication outlets and scholarly communities and have been marked by conceptual and methodological variation – as is usually the case when diferent research traditions begin to engage and converge. However, one clear outcome these exchanges have produced is a shared awareness of the importance of translation to social practice. Although the interdisciplinary dialogue has thus https://doi.org/./tris..van | Published online:  February  Translation in Society : (), pp. –. ISSN - | E‑ISSN - © John Benjamins Publishing Company