ABSTRACT
The paradox of a democratic university emerging from a military coup d'etat can only be understood in the light of the crucial role played by the student movement and the reformist elite. The empirical and scientific focus that Gino Germani was developing in his field had a significant impact upon other new curricula, such as history, education, psychology, anthropology, and political science. The fall of Peronism encouraged the creation of a new sociology profession—and Germani's project in particular—in several ways. The study of social and economic change based on statistical data, which had been virtually banned under Peron, began to be systematically analyzed by the professor and his colleagues; many of these initiatives were financed by international organizations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Germani frequently highlighted the role that these international organizations played in promoting the institutionalization of social sciences in Latin America.
