The Blaugrana were made to suffer in the second half, clinging onto their narrow lead despite losing multiple players to injury, with Sorloth missing the hosts' two best chances to equalise. It's a fifth consecutive away league win for Xavi's team.
Its hard to overstate the importance of that result for Barcelona, who move back into second place in LaLiga, six points clear of fifth-placed Real Betis, and eight clear of Sociedad.
Victory leaves two points ahead of Atletico Madrid in fourth. Atletico were held to a goalless draw by Granada on Wednesday. Sevilla sit third after they held on for a 3-2 win away at Levante, Tecatito scoring twice in Valencia.
Real Sociedad might have had an outside chance of joining the race for the top four if they had beaten Barcelona but defeat surely leaves them looking to secure a spot in the Europa League. They are six points behind Atletico in fourth.
A defeat would have been a huge blow for Xavi's hopes of leading the Catalan giants to Champions League qualification, but the likes of Ter Stegen, Pique, Busquets, and De Jong produced heroic performances to lead them to a much-needed victory.
Barcelona could have had some early joy against Real Sociedad. The blaugranas took the lead after just ten minutes following a good start from Xavi Hernandez's side.
Aubameyang jumped higher than his pair and with a fine header beat Remiro about a metre from the goal line. The Gabonese has scored his 9th goal in LaLiga, a staggering number since his arrival in the winter transfer window.