The Sociology of Education in Spain

Abstract

The most immediate contexts of our branch of study are the state of sociology as a whole and the state of education itself. Where Spain is concerned, the present purpose is to examine the first of these contexts in detail and to refer to the second merely in passing. Various specialities enter into the field of education and over the last few years a considerable amount of work has been produced, either stimulated or permitted by the 1970 reform of education, by greater ideological tolerance and by opportunities for comparison partly as a result of the inflation of constitutional and autonomic debates on educational topics (a kind of 'structural displacement' of ideological encounters in the incipient democracy). One of the few points of consensus in analysing Spanish sociology has been and remains its backwardness in relation to the development attained in countries more or less close and comparable to Spain. As concrete and interrelated signs of this discrepancy, it is usual to quote: slow and inefficient institutionalisation, caused by social and academic resistance which in turn has provoked an evolution along very peculiar lines; embryonic yet at the same time very selective specialisation due to the varying degrees of opposition or leniency in respect of the different camps; and, as the outcome, a sporadic predilection for theoretical and methodological themes combined with a fondness for a statistical or quantitative approach. At the popular level, which at times overlaps on to the academic, the confusing picture traditionally formed of sociology is still in force, together with the curious processes of identification it has aroused. But, since there are always 'exceptions that prove the rule', a few can be found in Spanish sociology. Without claiming to belie the general view, which is quite legitimate, as regards its backwardness, they may help to elucidate some of the causes and particularities. One important exception would appear to be the exaggerated cult of 'national sociology' or, more aptly, writings on sociologists and sociology in Spain. This inclination, seemingly traditional, may easily be confirmed by reference to the recent international account of Spanish sociology prepared by J. de Miguel and M. G. Moyer [ 1 ] . Although their report by no means includes all the