Sociology in Colombia

This Palgrave Pivot presents a historical reflection about the development of sociology in Colombia from the late nineteenth century into the mid-twentieth century, a period in which the process of professionalization in the discipline occurred due to the creation of university training programs, as well as the extension of research centers and groups nationwide. The book exposes the different interrelations at the local, regional and international ambits that, only in part, offer a similar panorama to what happened in other Latin American processes in relation to the academic institutionalization of sociology. The role of international networks and government initiatives, national and foreign, was central to this development and, in general, to the take-off of sociology in the country, as happened in others nations such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. 

This book argues that, in Colombia, having these networks and initiatives during the Cold Wargenerated various tensions, which appeared early, between these forms of financing as a political effort to contain left movements in the region (especially after the Cuban Revolution) and the attempt to achieve an autonomous science. However, the Colombian case presents some peculiarities in the configuration of sociology at the national level. These are associated, to a large extent, with the phenomena that have been decisive in the history of the country: a nation without dictatorships between 1960 and 1970, unlike other South American countries, but with a restricted democracy that even today offers difficulties in order to accept alternative forces. This book also considers the effects of the longest armed conflict known in the continent and its own historical transformations in the face of the role played by various actors such as guerrillas, drug trafficking and paramilitary groups. The book thus discusses, under a specific case study, the role of science as well as the possibilities of social transformation through human action. This book constitutes not only a journey on the academic institutionalization and the professional practice of sociology in Colombia; it is also an opportunity to think about what is coming in this field in a possible post-conflict scenario.

Janneth Aldana Cedeño is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia.