Social sciences in the Southern Cone and the birth of an intellectual elite (1940-1965)

Abstract

This work reconstructs the formation and rise of a new class of intellectual producers, the social scientists, owners of an exclusive intellectual and technical expertise, and recipients of an innovative form of academic training. Firstly, the text examines the distinctive initiatives and the main cultural and institutional devices used in the spread and implementation of modern sociology in a number of Latin American countries, as well as the intellectual careers of its main protagonists. Secondly, it looks at the overall intellectual and political context in which this process occurs, especially the role performed by a series of regional and international institutions in forming an intellectual network.

Social sciences; Institutionalization; Intellectual elite; Intellectual careers; International institutions