- sociology
- Sociology as a scholarly discipline developed late in Spain, as elsewhere. The foundations were laid by the work of the Instituto de Estudios Políticos (Political Studies Institute), where, from 1948, figures like Javier Conde, Juan José Linz and Enrique Tierno Galván collaborated on the Revista de Estudios Políticos (Political Studies Review). In the 1950s, Spanish culture began to open up to European and American influences, especially in the area of Social Sciences. The 1960s saw the publication of various studies in sociology which had a significant influence, such as Salustiano del Campo's La Sociología científica (Scientific Sociology) (1962) and Introduction a la Sociología (Introduction to Sociology) (1968), and Salvador Giner's Historia del pensamiento social (History of Social Thought) (1967).Between 1963 and 1965, the Rector's office of the Complutense University of Madrid sponsored courses in Sociology, but the university crisis of 1965 led to their suppression. Owing to an initiative by José Vidal Beneyto, the staff and students involved were able to continue the courses in the Centro de Enseñanza e Investigación (Centre for Teaching and Research), under whose auspices a School of Social Sciences was begun, though this in turn was closed by the authorities in 1968. The immediate response was the foundation of the Escuela Crítica de Ciencias Sociales (Critical School of Social Sciences), which was able to remain functioning until 1970.It was in the 1970s that sociology really became institutionalized as an academic discipline within the universities. It is to this period that we may date the appearance of most of the specialist professional journals: Revista de Estudios Sociales (Social Studies Review), Revista Española de la Opinión Pública (The Spanish Review of Public Opinion), Papers, and Trabajos de Sociología (Papers in Sociology). Gradually sociology was included in the degree programmes of most Faculties of Political Science.In parallel with university departments, public and private bodies began to foster the development of applied research in sociology, one of the earliest being the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Centre for Sociological Research), which publishes the journal Revista de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Review of Sociological Research). In addition, there are two professional organizations for sociologists: the Colegio Nacional de Licenciados en Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (National College of Gradu-ates in Political Science and Sociology), and the Federación Española de Sociólogos (Federation of Spanish Sociologists).Further reading- Díaz, E. (1983) Pensamiento español en la era de Franco (1939-1975), Madrid: Tecnos (an indispensable classic study).- Díez Nicolás, J. (1989) Cincuenta años de Sociología en España. Bibliografía de Sociología en lengua castellana, Málaga: Universidad de Málaga, 2 vols (a fundamental reference work).- Tezanos, J.F. (1996) La explicación sociológica: una introducción a la Sociología, Madrid: UNED (a UNED textbook, which contains a section on sociology as a subject in Spain).ALICIA ALTED
Encyclopedia of contemporary Spanish culture. 2013.
