José Medina Echavarría: an overview on Latin America from economic sociology and theory (1952-1977)

José Medina Echavarría is one of the most important iberoamerican sociologìsts in the XXth century. He is well known as a prominent intellectual of the spanish exile in 1939, whose contributions to the institutionalization of social science remain nowadays in El Colegio de México, Flacso and Eclac. In this paper, we present an overview of his life and early sociological thought, his deep worry about the crisis of modernity and his ideas on the new role of social science in Latin America. Medina was a member of the Eclac during twenty five years (1952-1977) and during this time we can appreciate a remarkable transition from theory and sociological concepts towards a critical balance on the consequences of the social and economic policies for developing countries. These ideas are based on his analysis of the economic sociology of Max Weber.