University power in Latin America

Abstract

This is a historical sociology essay on Latin American universities. On the basis of the discussion of the differences between social history and historical sociology, and the debates about the long timeframe of phenomena in contemporary social sciences, an analytical scheme is proposed, centered on the relationships between the autonomous power, legitimacy and social representation in their diverse social-historical contexts. The text is centered fundamentally on the analysis of the Spanish-American colonial period (1538-1812). The main conclusion is that the power of universities is the effect of the combination of models of political legitimacy and patterns of social representation.