A note on the evolution, the specificity and the social relevance of Portuguese sociology

This presentation tries to demonstrate that Portuguese sociology has been built on a set of virtuous relations between four poles of sociological activity: the theoretical problematization pole, the observational research pole, the reflexivity pole and the professionalization pole. It will be suggested that this specific dynamic was favoured by a series of political-institutional and organisational conditions (the dominance of a critical/applied rationalism in university training, the active role of Portuguese Sociological Association in the promotion of a creative interaction between academics and “field professionals”, the political engagement of Portuguese sociologists, the relatively successful opening-up of the labour market to professionally trained sociologists, etc.). The presentation also includes a comment on the possible contribution of Portuguese sociology to the re-invention of the scientific agenda and practices of the discipline and to the development of a “public knowledge”. 1. Portuguese sociology started to take shape as an autonomous disciplinary project about forty years ago. The argument that will be developed here is that if this project had been achieved with overall success, this was due to the virtuous interaction between four poles of activity that was established in the field of Portuguese sociology since its very beginning. They are: (i) the theoretical problematization pole, representing the set of efforts which, in the scientific domain in question, seek to encourage theoretical updating and discussion among peers in a systematic way; (ii) the observational research pole, relating to the analysis of concrete social situations through theoretically and methodologically informed procedures for gathering and processing empirical information; (iii) the reflexivity pole, embracing critical and self-critical questioning on positions of principle and foundations of the theoretical options and Edição on line d