Durkheim in The Pampas: the reception of his ideas in Argentina and Uruguay (1895-1947)

ESTEBAN EZEQUIEL VILA

Toronto

Congreso; XIX ISA WORLD CONGRESS OF SOCIOLOGY; 2018

International Sociological Association

The present work aims to study the reception of Emile Durkheim'sideas and his disciples (Paul Fauconnet, Marcel Mauss, Celestin Bouglé, etc.) inthe Sociology chairs of the Schools of Law and Social Sciences, Philosophy andArts, and Humanities and Education Sciences of the Universities of BuenosAires, Córdoba, Santa Fe and La Plata in Argentina, and the University of theRepublic in Uruguay. This study recognizes three periods of this reception: thefirst one covers the initial appearance of Durkheim in the Río de la Plata from1895 to 1915, when the approach to this sociological school was mainly limitedto The Rules of Sociological Method and, subsidiarily, The Division of Labour inSociety. The second period comprises the years 1915-1933 when, after the fall ofpositivism due to the First World War, a revival of the Durkheimian sociology islived, mostly in Córdoba, since 1922. Here, the readings are extended to hisothers works (Sociology and Pedagogy and The Elementary Forms of ReligiousLife) at the same time that the sociologists from Buenos Aires begin to studyothers French sociologists, as Maurice Halbwachs. Finally, the third period(1933-1947) involves a reinterpretation of Durkheim's doctoral thesis inArgentina creating a pre-functionalist thought in the country. This does nothappen in Uruguay where even in the 1950's the sociology lectures will follow ascience dissemination form and will constitute a complementary culturalknowledge for lawyers.