SOCIOLOGY IN ARGENTINA

EDMUNDO SUSTAITA

Sociology in the strictest sense of the word - that is, as the scientific
analysis of society, is of quite recent date in Argentina, although social
thought has been present in its history. In fact, the political and polemic
writings of Mario Moreno and Bernardino Rivadavia, both of whom played
a role in the Reuolucion de Ilayo (1) and in subsequent national governrich in social references and bear witness to the fact that these
well acquainted with the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
and other European thinkers. The avant-garde libConstant,
Benjamin
eralism of the cr6ole elite was quite in tune with the times (2).
In a political figure like Bernardino Rivadavia, we begin to see the
appearance of a socio-political interpretation of the problems of the new
nation. Rivadavia was the first to speak of the concept of &dquo;the wilderness
of the pampa&dquo; - fertile, but depopulated
as an ecological factor retarthe
of
la
and of European
Rio
social
the
de
Plata,
ding
development
immigration as the only possible solution to this problem. (The generation
of liberal thinkers who ran the country in the 1880s adopted this idea
and put Rivadavias proposal into effect, under the slogan &dquo;to govern
means to populate&dquo;).
After 1830, the wilderness that Rivadavia had described found its
political expression in a tyrannical government, run by a dictator of rural
origin, Don Juan M. de Rosas. The frustration that this authoritarian
regime caused among intellectuals and liberal groups, who from the
viewpoint of the period were remarkably Europeanized, found expression
in two opposite reactions : on the one hand there were the &dquo;aristocratic&dquo;
sectors who felt profound disdain for the &dquo;people&dquo; ; and on the other, there
were very sensitive intellectual groups whose interest in social factors

ments,

writers

are

were

1. The movement for Argentinian independence from the Spanish crown.

2. José Luis Romero, Las ideas politicas en Argentinu, Fondo de Cultura Economica, México, 1956, p. 69 et seq.

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beginning to develop. The generation of 1837, which exemplified

this interest, included a number of remarkable personalities, such as
Esteban Echeverria, the author of &dquo;Socialist Dogma&dquo;, a synthesis of the
ideas of this liberal group. In this book, Echeverria declares : &dquo;...the
take-off point must arise from our own laws, customs, and social situation ;
but first of all we must establish what we are and apply the principles to
decide what we should be... We must neither abandon contact with practical
reality nor lose ourselves in abstractions ; we must keep our intelligence
and our eyes fixed on the very entrails of our society.&dquo;
Aside from Echeverria, there were other writers, such as Juan Bautista
Alberdi, who was perhaps the first Argentinian thinker in the new realm
of political science. Alberdi was the author of &dquo;Foundations and Points
of Departure for the Political Organization of the Republic of Argentina&dquo;,
a book that was to have a great influence on the form of the Argentinian
constitution of 1853. European thought was a subject for permanent
discussion to the men of this generation. They met together for intellectual and political discussion in groups that very much resembled clubs ;
the most important of these rendez-vous was the &dquo;Literary Salon&dquo;, which
was soon to disappear, abolished by the dictatorial government ; they
read Saint-Simon, Mazzini, Tocqueville, and other philosophers who enjoyed
a good deal of influence among the young men of the period.
Generally speaking, Argentinian social thought has always been
closely linked with political action, and it has been developed by some
of the most remarkable figures among the groups which governed the
country up to the beginning of the twentieth century. The most outstanding of these liberal political figures, who were to transform Argentinian
political and social structures thanks to their immigration policy, was
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a teacher, journalist, and member of the
&dquo;Literary Salon&dquo; who later became President of the Republic. His essay
&dquo;Facundo&dquo;, which has been translated into several languages, is one
of the first studies ever made of &dquo;national character&dquo;, a very fashionable
theme in anthropology today. This &dquo;social essay&dquo; by Sarmiento is so rich
in content, so clear in its conceptualization and analysis, that it still
can serve today as a source of useful hypotheses for the interpretation
of certain macro-social problems of Argentina.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Buenos Aires saw the nearly
simultaneous arrival of a large current of European immigrants, and
Positivist philosophy. Positivism played a great role in the thinking of
almost the entire group of political figures and essayists who began to
take part in public life at about the time of the Centenary of Independence (1910). Juan B. Justo and Alfredo Palacios refer to Marx and
Engels, but the basis of their ideas can be found in the philosophy of
August Comte. Around these two leaders, and encouraged by them,
there arose a movement that could be called &dquo;socialist positivism&dquo;, despite
the fact that as a political party it claimed to be revolutionary (1). Jos6
was

1. Our hypothesis is that if one makes a content-analysis of books such as

Teoria y Pratica de la Historia by Juan B. Justo, and Esteban Echeverria by Alfredo
Palacios, one can find in them the decisive influence of Positivist philosophy, despite
a few romantic attitudes in the latter work.

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Ingenieros, an essayist
closely linked with this

and the author of &dquo;Argentinian Sociology&dquo; was

movement ; his book expressed numbers of ideas
that had been only latent in Argentinian thought, in a coherent and formal
manner.
Jos6 Ingenieros is considered as one of the most important
representatives of positivist thought in Argentina.
In 1896, the first chair of Sociology was created at the Faculty of
Letters and Philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires. For many
years a satisfactory academic level was maintained, while the orientation
and content of studies changed in accordance with the various philosophical currents that prevailed in the country. Thus, Professor Ernesto
Quesada reflected the positivist viewpoint until the 1920s, when the historian
Ricardo Levene occupied the chair of Sociology, which he defined as
&dquo;the science of the spirit&dquo;, thus very clearly expressing the anti-positivist
reaction that was taking place at that time in all the Argentinian universities.
Levene remained in this chair for a long time, and in 1940 he founded the
Institute of Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy, a great step forward
for the social sciences in Argentina. Despite the
resources at its
disposal, the Institute began to collect books and material for a specialized
library, and started the regular publication of a bulletin in which there
appear not only translations, but the results of the work of local sociologists, for instance, Gino Germani, who published his first research in
1942
as well as other Latin-American sociologists such as Gilberto
and
Manuel Di6guez Junior.
Freyre
Despite this stimulating progress, it began to be clear that there was
some disparity between Sociology as it was taught and practiced at the
University of Buenos Aires, and the evolution of this science on an international level, especially in terms of changes that had occurred in the
United States, England, and France.
In all the other Argentinian universities, similar developments have
occurred. At about 1907 a chair of Sociology was created in the University
of Cordoba, but it was filled only in 1918, by a professor who was to win
academic acclaim for his work. Professor Raul Orgaz has been called
&dquo;the teacher of several generations of Argentinians, and the typical representative of Sociology in its doctrinary and academic stage&dquo; (1). Among
. his books are &dquo;A History of Social Ideas in Argentina&dquo; (1927), &dquo;An Essay
on Revolutions&dquo; (1945), and &dquo;Sociology&dquo; (1942), the latter being the most

limited

--

--

important.
The descriptive

table that appears at the end of the present article

shows that until 1940, all the chairs of Sociology that were created in other
universities throughout the country were part of the Faculties of Philosophy,
Economics, or Law. Aside from a few isolated cases of intellectual brilliance, these professors of Sociology had no specialized training; it could
even be said that they occupied the chair as if it were merely an honorary
distinction that enhanced their professional status. Yet others took their
duties seriously because of a personal interest in social problems. These
1. Alfredo Povina, Historia de la Sociologia Latino Americana, Edit. Alessandri,
Côrdoba, 1959, p. 89.

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professors did not contribute greatly to the evolution of Sociology in Argentina during the period that concerns us here.
As from 1943, there was a significant correlation hetween the military
coups d6tat of fascist inspiration, and the poor academic level prevailing
in most Argentinian universities ; interest in
Sociology almost entirely
disappeared. Those professors who occupied chairs of Sociology carried
out their duties in a purely formal manner.
When they dealt with social
problems, emphasis was always placed on theoretical speculation ; the
bibliography proposed to the students mainly consisted of philosophical
texts that

were idealistic in their orientation.

Under the influence of the
dominant political groups of the time, anti-positivism turned into antirationalism. The evolution of Sociology abroad was neglected, save by
a few very small
marginal groups outside the universities. The disparity
that had begun to appear in about 1930, between Sociology as a science
and Sociology as a University subject, developed into a complete break
towards 1945. In most universities, there was serious talk of an &dquo;Argentinian sociology&dquo;, and chairs were created with this title, as if it were
scientific to establish political frontiers where theoretical and methodological criteria alone should prevail. Finally, in the best instances, the
word Sociology was used to designate a special system of personal philosophy, while in other universities, this word was used as a cloak for denominational doctrines, or for ignorance or baseless speculation.
Despite the mediocrity that reigned in the universities, a desire for
renewal became evident in a few intellectual groups.
It was within one
of these groups that Professor Gino Germani began his individual research.
Although he had already collaborated with the Institute that was created by

Levene, he abandoned university life in 1945 because of the political

situation mentioned above, and in 1955, as the result of his own private
effort, he published &dquo;The Social Structure of Argentina&dquo;, a work mainly
based on data taken from the national census of 1945.
This book was
the first complete and detailed study of social groups and classes in Argentina, and its appearance marked the beginning of a new era in Argentinian
sociology. In 1955 Professor Germani became Professor of Sociology in
the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Buenos Aires,
and set about organizing the present Department of Sociology of the University which began to function in Nlarch 1957.
This Department is divided into two sections : on the one hand there
is the School of Sociologv, and on the other, the Institute of Sociology
In the course of the
which is devoted exclusively to scientific research.
First Latin-American Conference of Schools and Departments of Sociology which took place in Buenos Aires in September 1961, Gino Germani,
in his function as Director of the Department of Sociology of Buenos Aires,
presented a report in which he stated : &dquo;A succession of favorable circumstances have allowed us to take the first steps towards the realization of
a far-reaching plan for the establisment of social science research and
teaching on an acceptable academic level. This project, which got under
way in 1956, will still demand another five years of work (starting from
1961). Its completion will entail two principal stages whose aim will be
first of all, to ensure the conditions necessary for the regular functioning
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of the Department, and, second, an expansion of its activities and the

improvement of the level of teaching and of scientific research.&dquo;
&dquo;To accomplish our first goal we had but limited human and material
resources available.
Therefore, we were obliged to concentrate our efforts
as much as
possible We enlisted the collaboration of young graduates who,
thanks to their training and background were able to provide the basis
for a future team. We set up an intensive preparatory programme in which
we made provisions for the
regular courses of the new school to begin in
1958 (except for the Introductory course which was to be given in 1957,
the inaugural year of the programme).
We were able to obtain international assistance and coordinate our plans with the scientific activities
of regional and extra-regional centres.&dquo;
&dquo;All this allowed us to begin our research, at first on a limited scale ;

later,

able to broaden our field.

This work was conceived as a
of stimulation as well as of training.
In 1957 and 1958 we sent
fellowship students abroad to specialize, and in this manner we were
able to enlist the cooperation of a number of foreign professors.
We
have tried to establish the core of a specialized library, and have created
a Documentation Service whose task is to translate and publish thousands
of pages in order to solve our most urgent teaching problems&dquo;.
It is clear that 1955 marked the beginning of a period of renewal in
Argentinian sociological studies. This movement started in Buenos Aires,
but it has had repercussions throughout the entire country.
In order to
explain this process, we should mention the influence of three important
factors : 1) the fall of the authoritarian nationalist regime permitted a
revival of scientific exchanges on an international level, which demonstrated, by comparison, the weaknesses inherent in our own scientific studies;
2) a profound change took place in the socio-economic structures of the
country : accelerated industrialization and the urbanization which occurred
as a result of internal migrations were two processes whose study was
hampered or blocked altogether by the authoritarian control of the political regime. Consequently, when it became possible, by means of sociological studies, to show how important these processes were, a veritable
intellectual eruption made itself felt ; the new generation has been directing
most of its energy towards these problems, which demand the creation
of a veritable and systematic training-centre for their study ; 3) another
factor that contributed to the development of Sociology in Argentina was
the flourishing of this science on an international level, and the assistance
of world organizations such as UNESCO and a number of private organizations, even of a few large Foundations.
The history of this renewal in the study of sociology, which originated
in the Department of Sociology of the University of Buenos Aires, is
exemplified by the expansion of that Department, from 1955 to the present.
By now, most Argentinian universities have a centre for the development
of Sociology, with professional sociologists in its chairs, or else there are
centres that specialize in research. Although there are greater economic
difficulties in universities of &dquo;the interior&dquo; than in Buenos Aires, all of
them contain groups of young intellectuals with modern ideas, whose
efforts to renew this field of studies will doubtless be successful.
we were

means

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A factor that is quite important but not

surprising is the resistance
that this renewal of the social sciences has encountered in
Argentina. The
problem is quite important for it is typical of the obstacles which this
discipline (and all other sciences which try scientifically to analyse the
relationship between man and his behavior) must face when dealing with
a society
undergoing profound social change. We must bear in mind the
fact that it was not a question of compelling the
recognition of sociology,
for it has been recognized as a scientific discipline for more than
sixty
years ; it was only a matter of reviving it and of directing it in accordance
with modern methods and theories. The social structures of
Argentina are
relatively modern although it does suffer from marked stagnation in its
economic structure. This is why we must seek the origins of the resistance
to Sociology primarily in certain traditional groups which are
part of a
social context whose most important features are of the industrial-urban
type. These traditional sectors have not only shown a lack of understanding, but also very great fear of possible investigation of certain subjects, such as the family, adolescence, or demographic studies of the birthrate, etc., which have always been the object of social research. In particular,
there has been one sector of the Catholic Church in Argentina which - to
our mind - has
lagged behind the church in other Latin-American
countries (that of Chili, for instance), and which felt that the analysis
of these aspects of social reality would be very dangerous. Authors such
as Talcott Parsons, and others, who have studied the
sociology and the
psychology of the family, have been accused of being &dquo;disintegrative&dquo; and
&dquo;immoral&dquo;. In this respect it is interesting to note that this resistance in
no way reflected a
general attitude in our society, which is &dquo;secularized&dquo;
from the viewpoint of family structure; therefore, such resistance was
but one indication of the lag of certain very important groups within the
social power-structure.
The other sector that showed frank resistance to Sociology was that
of the doctors and lawyers, etc., who had been used to considering Sociology as a supplementary activity or hobby of their own. The passage
towards Sociology in the hands of professional sociologists could but displease the amateurs ; this attitude may be considered a survival of the
time when the chair of Sociology was merely an honor, an adjunct to the
acquisition of status.
A third source of resistance arose from the fact that the revival now
going on in Sociology coincides with an effort that the University of
Buenos Aires is making for modernization; this situation amplifies and
focuses the reactions of traditionalist groups. As is the case elsewhere, the
older academic traditions
the kind that always exist in a long-established Universitv
feel that the scientific treatment of social reality is somehow threatening.
Finally, we should add another obstacle, one that is related to the
above-mentioned sectors of resistance. This happens to be a local phenomenon, only valid for Argentina : there are conflicting ideological resistances.
From 1945 to 1955 the University was controlled by extreme rightwing nationalist groups. These groups gave the epithet of &dquo;communist&dquo;
to anything new, even in the field of the sciences, and Sociology was an
-

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especial target. But extreme left-wing groups also accused Sociology,

considering it as &dquo;the tool of the bourgeoisie&dquo;. They also took it to task
for accepting assistance from &dquo;the Yankees&dquo; and in this manner furthering &dquo;the imperialist infiltration of the University&dquo;. As a result of the
weak institutional situation of the country and of the continual intervention
of military groups in government affairs, such ideological resistance has
become the greatest danger to Sociology in Argentina and also a permanent
menace of the destruction of all that has been achieved during the last
seven years, at least in the realm of academic organization.
As far as the economic situation is concerned, Sociology must face
a number of difficulties, such as, for instance, the paucity of funds to
cover expenses involved in research, and the relatively large sums needed for this type of work. This problem has been partially solved, thanks
to subsidies from the National Council for Scientific Research and from
foreign Foundations (the Ford Foundation and the Rockfeller Foundation
have granted rather important subsidies to the Department of Sociology
of the University of Buenos Aires). The principal aim of this fund was
to provide the Department with material equipment, and to finance a
programme of training fellowships for Argentinian sociologists, as well
as to permit the engagement of some foreign professors, but sums were
also received for research.
The Department also has functional relations with a few Government
bodies that finance research which they feel to be particularly important.
The Argentinian university budget is so limited that research would be
impossible without the assistance of such extra-university contributions.
In spite of all these difficulties, a number of research projects are
now under way, and others have already been completed ; their practical
importance for our country does not exclude a remarkable theoretical
value; among the most striking, we may note the work on social stratification done under the direction of Professor Germani, at present in its
analytical phase. This research is part of a large comparative project
involving four Latin-American countries. Professor Germani has also
directed another research project on the assimilation of rural immigrants
in the process of urbanization ; he used a sample of 900 cases chosen from
among the inhabitants of Maciel Island, a workers suburb of Buenos Aires.
Professor Albert Meister has done work on community development
and social change in the region of Pocito, San Juan province ; this project
is still at the stage of data-analysis.
A number of social scientists are working on demographic studies
(differential fertility, family structure, etc). Research has also been published concerning the &dquo;traditional&dquo; class of Buenos Aires, the prestige of
occupations, and the political elite.
Professor Jos6 Luis de Imaz has just presented the final report on
his survey of &dquo;electoral motivation&dquo;. Professor Regina Gibaja has presented a report on her survey on &dquo;The rules of mass communications&dquo; based
on a sample of the public attending an exhibition of modern art.
Other
surveys are being carried out in various parts of the country, and in
the Department of Sociology work is now being done on experimental
drawing. One such project in this field is that of Professor Ana Maria
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Eichelbaum, who is studying the factors operative in the education of

child according to his socio-economic status ; the final report on this

research project is now being written.
A rather important research project is now in progress, on &dquo;The
influence of foreign immigration on the development of Argentina&dquo;. Sociologists and historians (Jose L. Romero, T. Halperin, and other) are working
together on this project, which is subsidized by the Rockfeller Foundation.
There are also a number of other projects of more limited scope, as,
for instance, studies on data obtained from a university census, on authoritarianism and prejudice, on labor unions, etc.
We should indicate that the research projects just mentioned do not
represent all the work that has been done or is now in progress in the
Department of Sociology of the University of Buenos Aires. The principal
aim of the Department has been to gather a great deal of descriptive data on
the principal traits of Argentinian society, whose dynamics and structure
were almost unknown when research was begun.
The preparation of a stratified sample of Greater Buenos Aires, which has a population of seven
million inhabitants out of a total population of 21 millions, was of great
importance in this respect. The Department has its own I.B.hi. section and
makes regular use of a niercury computer belonging to the University.
The Argentinian universities are beginning to take an interest in the
social sciences, and they continually ask for experts in teaching or in the
organization of research. Litoral University (in Rosario) has just created
an Institute of Sociology that will be devoted exclusively to research.
Tucuman University has also created a &dquo;Commission for sociological
research&dquo;. And those universities that do not have Institutes specializing
in Sociology are always in touch with the Department in Buenos Aires,
which lends them whatever professors are available. Recent graduates of
the School of Sociology of Buenos Aires have already begun to participate
in these new activities.
The establishment of two centres of sociological specialization in
Latin America contributed greatly to the development of social science in
Argentina ; one of these - the Facllltad Latino Americana de Ciencias
Sociales (FLACSO), which is based in Santiago de Chile, is concerned with
the training of social scientists on the post-graduate level ; the other is
the Centro Latino-americano de Pesqllisas em Ciencias Sociais in Rio de
Janeiro, whose aim is research. These two bodies were created by an
agreement among the Latin-American governments, and are under the
patronage of UNESCO. Many graduates of FLASCO are now working in
the Department of Sociology of Buenos Aires ; others are working in other
Argentinian universities.
In 1960, the Argentinian Sociological Association, which represents
scientific sociology, was created. This institution is now affiliated with
the International Sociological Association.
We have seen that in Argentina the history of Sociology has been
closely linked with politics, either because the first social thinkers were
political figures, or because the discipline reflected political changes. Whatever the case may have been, the ideology of the governing groups has been
reflected in the national history of this science.

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VVe may observe the

between the academic level achieved

country, and the possibilities
Sociology. Since 1955, that
is, after the fall of President Peron, a succession of liberal governments
have decided not to try to influence the University
at least, not directly.
It was this fact that permitted the creation of the Institute of Sociology
in Buenos Aires, which has made an effort quickly to compensate for
the lag caused by the anti-positivist vacuum since 1920, and by governments with fascist tendencies since 1943 ; the latter had tried to exert
political pressure on the University and also to make ideological changes
in academic orientation. Of all the sciences, Sociology was the one that
suffered the most damage, for its field of interest is similar to that of the
ideologies. And we now wonder whether the political future of the
country will permit an authentic development of the social sciences.
Although the Argentinian universities have not been the object of outside
intervention since 1955, they are often subjected to veiled pressures and
even to the latent menace of direct interference.
On the one hand,
the &dquo;liberal&dquo; groups have lost much of their liberalism in the course
of their struggle against fascism, and, on the other hand, the Peronist
groups do not make us feel secure about the development of the sciences,
above all when we recall their previous conduct or when we consider the
manifest content of their political programmes. All this makes us fear
for the future autonomy of the university.
The most serious problem facing sociologists today is that we can
no longer consider our science as the fruit of the individual efforts of a
few geniuses working in their laboratories in total isolation from the
society in which they live ; to the contrary, research work demands permanent teams of trained and competent personnel, and, therefore, a considerable investment of capital. Thus it is almost impossible to foster this
science outside the institutional system of society. Sociology is concerned
with social reality ; it is no longer possible to imagine scientific groups
working on the margins of society, like the essayists and social thinkers
of the generation of 1837.
Since the present situation is still too obscure for us to be able
to make any predictions, we can but affirm that the total integration of
Sociology in Argentina will depend above all upon the maintenance of
the autonomy of its universities, in which it has so far found circumstances
favorable to its existence and its cumulative development.

divergence

most of the scientific specializations in the

for development that have been available to

by

to the Spanish translation of C.W. Mills, La Imaginación

de Cultura Economica. México, 1961; Germani feels that the
world Sociology should be the following:
a) The use of the scientific method ;
b) The development of appropriate research techniques, much more precise
than those used in the past ;
c) The creation of extensive and complex organizations devoted to research
and to the internal differentiation of the science into a number of specialties ;
d) Advanced training for social scientists in schools for specialists ;
e) The "professionalization"of the sociologist at the academic level, as in that
of practical applications ;
f) Inter-disciplinary cooperation arising from internal differentiation into

2. Gino

Germani, Preface

Sociológica, Fondon
specific traits of a

specialties.
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A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRESENT SITUATION

SOCIOLOGY IN ARGENTINA

OF

*closed in 1960

1. This is the School of Sociology of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty

of Letters and Philosophy. This school grants the following diplomas :
a) Diploma in Sociology taken as a major subject by graduates in other careers ;
involves passing 5 basic required courses and 5 sociology courses of the students choice.
b) Licence in Sociology, involving work in 28 subjects in the Schools course of
study. Approximate duration : six academic years.
c) Doctorate in Sociology, following the submission of a thesis and some
minimal requirements.
2. Columns a and b are in reciprocal relation to one another, for they refer to
is the time when this chair was first occupied
the same chair. The date mentioned inb
a
sociologist. The same criterion has been followed for columns d and e.
The dates mentioned under e refer to the time when the original academic Institutes
began scientific research work.
3. The difference between the category "Institutes" and the category "Commissions" arises because the latter are relatively less important ; they have a much
smaller staff and research budget.

by

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