This essay is part of the spirit of the "Verstehende Soziologie" instilled by Max Weber. Such spirit is marked by the guiding idea that it is not possible or legitimate to arrive at any knowledge or judgment about a certain social reality without first being interested in the perceptions and judgments of the people involved in this reality. It is therefore not possible to form an image of the reality of Latin American underdevelopment, without first forming an image of the image that the allegedly "underdeveloped" man has of his own reality. The truth is that today developing countries are facing a qualitatively different problem from that faced by Western countries. But even so, foreign social scientists are not yet sufficiently aware that it is possible to arrive at a responsible judgment about this world without going into the way of thinking of its people.
Keywords:
Sociology, Underdevelopment, Latin America, University, Epistemology
Author Biography
Arnold E. Van Niekerk
Profesor y científico social holandes, actualmente desarrolla actividades académicas en Venezuela.
Niekerk, A. E. V. (1976). La sociología latinoamericana : un testimonio epistemológico. Estudios Internacionales, 9(36), p. 42–73. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.1976.17111
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