<p>There has long been a crisis of trust in sociology, one that is inextricably linked to the discipline’s contradictory self-understandings. This paper aims to construct a metasociological model of the legitimacy of sociology in order to clarify these debates. The core of this model lies in recognizing sociology as a social structure embedded within a larger society, and understanding that claims regarding the legitimacy of sociology primarily occur at the structural relations both internal and external to sociology. Through an analysis of Chinese, Iranian and American sociology, we summarize seven types of legitimacy of sociology.</p>