A sumptuous finish from Lionel Messi spared Barca's blushes after Willian Jose had headed Sociedad into a deserved lead just after half-time.
And Barca were fortunate to escape without a fifth consecutive league defeat in San Sebastian as Carlos Vela hit the woodwork twice and Juanmi's header was wrongly ruled out for offside.
"It is almost a miracle that we took a point," Barca boss Luis Enrique told BeIN Sports Spain.
A point is enough to move Barca up to second, but they now desperately need to beat Madrid in the first El Clasico of the season at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
Earlier, Atletico Madrid got back to winning ways and moved back into the top four as goals from Diego Godin, Kevin Gameiro and Yannick Carrasco ensured a comfortable 3-0 win at Osasuna.
Barcelona still haven't won in San Sebastian since 2007, but were grateful for the point as Sociedad failed to cash in on their superiority.
Xabi Prieto headed a guilt-edged chance wide, whilst Vela also fired off target when well-placed inside the area before the break.
The visitors' first effort on target came on 50 minutes when Geronimo Rulli turned behind Neymar's free-kick.
However, Sociedad went in front three minutes later when Pique, who played on in the second-half with a severely strapped ankle, could only slash Jose's effort into his own net after Marc-Andre ter Stegen had blocked Vela's initial effort.
Neymar started up front for Barca despite suffering a minor car accident in his Ferrari on Sunday morning.
Sociedad were cruelly denied 14 minutes from time when a wonderful hit by Vela came back off the underside of the bar and substitute Juanmi's finish from the rebound was wrongly ruled out for offside.
- Atletico respond -
====================
Atletico had suffered back-to-back La Liga defeats for the first time in four years at the hands of Sociedad and Real Madrid in recent weeks.
Godin nodded home Koke's corner nine minutes before half-time and almost straight from kick-off Angel Correa released Gameiro to double Atletico's lead.
Substitute Carrasco rounded off the scoring with his eighth goal of the season in stoppage time.
"It was a very important game for us for the way in which we ended up playing," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.
Atletico leapfrog Villarreal, who earlier lost 2-0 at home to Alaves, into fourth and move back to within nine points of Real Madrid.
"In the second half we were a lot more organised and had more of a collective effort which allowed us to kill off the game."
Granada remain winless and rooted to the bottom after a 3-1 defeat at Celta Vigo.
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