Inequality in Ecuadorian Sociology of the 1950s and 1960s

Heavy inequalities mark Ecuador. Ecuadorian sociology was always aware of this. Inequality is a central political language of academic sociology in Ecuador and the main field of contact with global sociology, politics, and other local traditions. This is why the treatment of inequality by sociologists in Ecuador shows in an exemplary manner the conceptual shifts taking place - including the local relation to global tendencies in the sense of a global intellectual history. Early Ecuadorian sociology was based on the pre-classics of sociology and their organicist understanding of society: inequality appeared related to morals, education, and work. The main problem was the artificial barriers in society that hindered the participation of indigenous peoples in society, thus producing a social divide. This reading fit well with the political language of that time, allowing for paternalistic reformism that did not put actual social structures into doubt. The 1950s and 1960s condense the development of the sociological debates on inequality, introducing a push for modernisation. However, the concrete possibilities to open Ecuadorian sociology to global debates could not be used. The more contemporary class analysis was finally replaced by a strictly Marxist approach in the 1970s.