Revista de Sociología

Sociology in Chile 50 years after the coup: ruptures, resistances and memories of a disciplinary field.

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Studying and practicing sociology during dictatorship (1973-1990): Accounts of a battered discipline

Elisabeth Simbürger, Alina Donoso — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Chilean literature published from the late eighties onwards on the intervened university and its repercussions on sociology has turned into a sociological canon about the discipline during the dictatorship. However, more than thirty years after the end of the dictatorship, research that addresses the ways in which sociology was practised and taught in universities during the dictatorship, is still scarce. Based on eighteen qualitative interviews with sociologists from three different generations, this article aims to reconstruct how sociologists experienced the dictatorship, either as students, in exile or as academics in Chile.

Broken sociology. Biographical dimensions of the arduous path from militant commitment to professional sociology in the post-dictatorship.

Gemita Oyarzo — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents the reflections that arise from the reworking of some research findings, obtained in a study already completed on the processes of social and political reconversion of the Chilean left in the post-dictatorship (Oyarzo, 2019; 2020, 2021, 2024). Through the recounting of the professional and work trajectories of a group of former leftist activists who studied sociology before and after the dictatorship (4 cases), the article reflects on the rupture of the disciplinary field in Chile and on the difficulties of its reconstruction during the 90s. The analysis of the biographical trajectories of sociologists who interrupted their careers or who pursued them only after democracy was recovered, allows us to maintain that, although the academic reflection of the discipline survived the closure of sociology schools and was, in fact, quite fruitful in the 80s, the same did not happen with the professional field. The difficulties that sociology professionals went through to find a job position reflect the drifts of a disciplinary field that has never finished reconciling its academic and political reflection with its professional work.

A brief overview of Sociology at the Universidad de Concepción

Guillermo Henriquez Aste — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents a descriptive overview of the history of Sociology at the University of Concepción (Chile) from its beginning in the 1940s, its institutionalization in the 1960s when a Center of Sociology was created, its transformation into de Central Institute of Sociology, its conflicts and changes in orientation, its closure in 1973, its reopening 20 years later and its subsequent development. Its sources are twofold; the first of these are documents found in the University’s Archives and the second are interviews carried out with people who had ties with Sociology between 1960 and 1973, all this within the framework of recapturing living memories.

Creation of the Sociology Network of Chilean Universities and reactivation of disciplinary and trade union reflective spaces.

Claudio Duarte, Ximena Sánchez — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The development of social experiences was one of the ways to resist the attacks of the military dictatorship, allowing us to confront and overcome the fragmentation that was sought to be imposed in all areas of society. The Sociology Network of Chilean Universities (SOCIORED) is an initiative that contributes to this process, by establishing itself as an instance of articulation of the study houses that develop sociology in Chile, it allowed the recovery of the Chilean Sociology Congresses and collaborated with the refoundation of the College of Sociologists. All based on the commitment to a collaborative work style, based on trust and attentive to the country's concerns.Through a documentary study -in the framework of a systematization of this experience-, the process of forming SOCIORED and the holding of the Chilean Congresses of Sociology from the VI (year 2011) to the XI (year 2022) is presented, as evidence of the contribution of this experience to the resistance of the effects of the dictatorship.

Becoming a sociologist between storms and continuities. An account fifty years later

Guillermo Uribe — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

En la mañana del martes 11 de septiembre de 1973 me disponía a partir a mis cursos a la escuela de sociología de la Universidad de Chile, cuando escuché en la radio que se desarrollaba una intervención militar. Se pedía a los ciudadanos no salir a la calle y esperar instrucciones. Comprendí porqué había aviones que pasaban y se escuchaban explosiones lejanas. Mi primera reacción fue partir a la Universidad creyendo que otros estudiantes llegarían igualmente y tomaríamos decisiones colectivas. Fui a pie, como siempre, pues vivía muy cerca. El campus del Pedagógico estaba cerrado y ocupado por militares que llevaban un brazalete amarillo. Yo era el único estudiante y la única persona presente frente a ellos. Me fui a casa. Así terminaron brutalmente mis estudios de sociología en Chile. En ese momento cursaba mi segundo año. Algunos años más tarde, sustentaba el doctorado de sociología en Francia y me integraba al cuerpo profesoral universitario. Este recorrido no fue un simple camino académico sino un combate múltiple: salvar la vida, abandonar la vivienda, obtener refugio, recomenzar en el extranjero, aprender verdaderamente otro idioma y descubrir otro mundo académico.

En estos cincuenta años construí mi universo de sociólogo y tuve la oportunidad de experimentar distintos sistemas de enseñanza, diversos objetos, diferentes posturas conceptuales y métodos disimiles en los dos países. Fue también un periodo de múltiples experiencias intelectuales, humanas y universitarias.

Cincuenta años después de esta ruptura en Chile, el testimonio que hoy escribo es un recorrido vivencial que me hizo sociólogo y profesor de la disciplina.

Limits of indigenous representation in the Plurinational State of Bolivia Between rural-ancestral performance and indigenous urban reality

Javier Claros — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The political project of the Plurinational State of Bolivia has ignored the indigenous experiences of those residing in urban areas, excluding them from recognition policies. However, the urban Aymara indigenous people have not only sought recognition of their indigenous rights, but also participation in the economic redistribution proposed by the plurinational project. In this essay, a question is raised about the limits of indigenous representation within the framework of the Plurinational State, with the aim of reexamining the indigenous question in Bolivia and challenging the rural-ancestral romanticization that has clouded locals and strangers.

Latin America and the concentration of multi-systemic growth. Thesis and illustration of a social structural tendency

Rafael Alvear — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The diagnosis that Latin America stands as one of the most unequal continents in the world has become a phrase on everyone's lips. Although the approaches to inequalities and intersectionality have sought to broaden this analysis, highlighting the variety of deficiencies in broad parts of society, the problem of the excessive prosperity of extremely minority groups of the population has not yet received special attention. Based on this premise, this article aims to offer a new analytical perspective to understand the deployment of a structurally exacerbated inequality process, paradigmatically visible in this area of the world. Drawing on a sociological review and expanding on the contributions of Karl Marx and Pedro Vuskovic, the text appeals to a general tendency towards a concentration of access to the fruits of society's growth by minority groups of the population, considering not only the economy but also the totality of social systems. Along with the theoretical framework, the article provides an empirical illustration based on secondary statistical material to verify the concrete forms that this concentration acquires within each social system. Finally, the article offers reflections on the general panorama of concentration as it relates to the Latin American region.

Review: Franck Gaudichaud (2023), Découvrir la révolution chilienne (1970-1973), Les éditions sociales.

Malena Bastías — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Henríquez, K. y Pleyers, G. (Comps.). (2023). Chile en Movimientos. CLACSO

Daniela Jara Leiva — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Angelcos, N. y Pérez, M. (Eds.). (2023). Vivir con dignidad. Transformaciones sociales y políticas de los sectores populares en Chile. Fondo de Cultura Económica

Mónica Iglesias Vázquez — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000