The Expansion of Sociology in Mexico (1959–1980)

At the end of the 1950s, Mexico faced unfavorable economic conditions, and the protest of different labor movements, which aroused a new concern for social inequality in the country. In 1968, the violent governmental reaction to the student movement changed the vision of a peaceful progress according to the so-called “Mexican Miracle.” Under the new social circumstances and the expectations generated by the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution, the decade of the 1970s was characterized by the eruption of Marxism in the universities. Due to the rise of authoritarianism and the growth of military regimes in Latin America, many South American intellectuals arrived at Mexico as professors in the social science departments. Sociology experienced a process of expansion both in student enrollment and in the founding of journals and new academic institutions. The chapter analyses these transformations together with the changes to the sociology curricula, in the main journals, and publications, in the studies undertaken by Mexican sociologists, as well as the contributions from foreign authors that had an important impact in Mexican social science.