The G. B. Pant Samajik Vigyan Sansthan (Social Science Institute) was set up at the initiative of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Pd. Kamalapati Tripathi, the then Chief Minister of UP wrote a letter to Shri S. Nurul Hasan, Education Minister, Government of India, in 1972 ,expressing the desire of the Government of UP to set up an Institute for Social Science Research at Allahabad. The proposal was backed by two subsequent Chief Ministers of the State.

The Government of India subsequently constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Prof S. Chakravarty, Member, Planning Commission, to work out the details. The Committee recommended in 1975 that a non-recurring grant-in-aid of Rs. 50 lakh be made to the Institute, to be shared equally by the ICSSR and the GoUP, and a recurring grant of Rs. 10 lakh be made to the Institute per year, to be shared equally by the iCSSR and the GoUP. On the recommendation of the Chakravarty committee, the government of India decided in 1975 to approve the request of the UP government to set up an Institute in Allahabad in collaboration with the Central government. It was decided that the proposed Institute would be supported under the grants-in-aid scheme of the ICSSR for financial assistance to Research Institutes doing research in the field of social sciences.  It was further decided that the government of India and the UP government would provide funds to the Institute on a matching basis. This recommendation was accepted in principle by both the ICSSR and the GoUP.

The Indian Council for Social Science Research started providing funds to the Institute starting from 1976-77. Subsequently, the Government of Uttar Pradesh took a decision to fund the Institute on a matching basis from 1979-80 and an initial grant of Rupees one lakh was made to the Institute in July 1979.

The Institute was registered as a society in the year 1980 by representatives of the government of UP, the Central government, and the ICSSR.  Prof. A. D. Pant, became the Director of the Institute after it became a registered entity in 1980, succeeding Prof. S. C. Dube who was Director of the Institute up to 1979

The Institute became a constituent institute of the University of Allahabad, after the university became a Central university in July, 2005. Its structure and its relationship with the university of Allahabad is now governed by the ordinances of the University. Specifically, Ordinance XXXIV of the University of Allahabad lays down the basic structure of the constituent Institutes of the University. The Central government also decided to fund the Institute through the UGC and the University of Allahabad.df