Sociology Institutionalized, 1975–82

This chapter focuses upon the birth of sociology in Portugal as a fully recognized academic discipline following the left-wing revolutionary democratic transition of 1974–75. The return of a generation of exiled social scientists, including sociologists, from Switzerland, France, and elsewhere is analysed. Within a few years, all four major centres of production of sociological knowledge would be established — ISCTE, New University, CES, and the ICS. Each of these centres would eventually develop a distinct institutional understanding of sociology. A new journal was created — Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais (1978) — which would play an important role in critical sociology. The chapter concludes with a reference to the institutionalization of sociology in the context of the early 1980s.