The study traces the history of French Sciences de l'information et de la communication (SIC) since its institutionalization in 1975. It closely relates the conceptual and social forms of this discipline. A sociological and historical framework is applied, focusing on the identity and professional discourses of generations of scholars. The central intellectual thread runs from the semiotic-linguistic origins of SIC (Roland Barthes and Robert Escarpit) to contemporary social-constructivist approaches (Eliséo Véron and Alex Mucchielli). The link between semiotics and social constructivism was the expansion of semiotics to include pragmatics, which is particularly due to transnational influences, namely adaptations from American social philosophy (Mead) and interactive approaches.