Reference: ÚCAR, X. (2012) “Social pedagogy in Latin America and Europe: looking for
new answers to old questions” En J. Kornbeck; N. Rosendal Jensen (Eds.)
Social Pedagogy for the entire human lifespan. Vol II, (pp.166‐201)
Bremen: Europäischer Hochschulverlag GmbH & Co. KG. (ISBN: 978‐3‐
86741‐742‐6)
SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN LATIN AMERICA AND EUROPE: LOOKING FOR NEW
ANSWERS TO OLD QUESTIONS
Xavier Úcar
Dept. Pedagogia Sistemàtica I Social
Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona
June, 2011
,Index
Introduction
1. SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN LATIN AMERICA
1.1. Social pedagogy coming from Europe
1.2. Emergence and actuality of social pedagogy in Latin America
1.3. School education, non‐formal education, social education and social pedagogy
1.4. Social pedagogy and social education
1.5. Social pedagogy and professionalization
2. SOCIAL PEDAGOGY AND POPULAR EDUCATION IN THE EUROPE‐LATIN AMERICA
DIALOGUE: POSSIBLE EDUCATIONS
2.1. Popular education and social pedagogy: A sustained dialogue, some concerns and
shared questions
3. CONCLUDING: FERTILE BABEL
Bibliography
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, "And the social body is a body beaten to death,
beheaded, broken." (Touraine, 2009:110)
Introduction
At the beginning of the second decade of a brand new millennium, social pedagogy as a
discipline and as a practice seems to enjoy very good health in Europe and in Latin America.
It could be said that we are witnessing in recent years a revival of the discourses and
practices related to the social and to the community. This revival is due to a very complex set
of causes and factors that probably have a prominent place in the emergence of individualist
and consumption societies, the consolidation of new forms of sociality and relationship
through technology, and the economic and neoliberal pressure to which individuals,
organizations, and communities are subjected.
The social is in the spotlight, perhaps because we fear losing it or because we feel we have
already lost it. Maybe we do not really know how to deal with these new subjects (whether
individual, group or community) who seem to think more about themselves, their needs,
and their own construction than in what had been an obligatory reference and a destination
for previous generations, i.e., institutions, social structure, and social organization.
We are interested in the social. We feel that the recovery or reconstruction of the social may
be the answer to many of the situations and issues that our societies now live. The
approaches and tools for analysis and interpretation that were used in recent past to
address the social are of little use in the present, since when we refer to “the social”, in
reality, we do not know exactly what we mean. Perhaps, this is the situation characterized
by Touraine as the end of the social order (2009, p. 149) that inaugurates or encourages this
desire to create or relearn the social, a desire that is present in Europe and in Latin America.
This need for reinvention of the social involves rethinking the social contract as an
instrument that traditionally has supported the construction and standardized functioning of
society. Nor does this imply a contractual liberal individualism based on the idea of civil law
·3·
, contract among individuals, but involves the idea of social contract as a collective
aggregation of divergent social interests1 (De Sousa Santos, 2008, p. 20).
Our times require us to think about how to be social beings without losing the attributes and
values of the individual and vice versa. Or, in other words, how do we construct societies
that grant freedom to construct individual, group, and community, without neglecting the
linkages and interdependencies that bind us and shape us as individuals, communities, and
societies? How do we articulate and construct links that do not stifle creativity and freedom
of expression and action of individuals, groups, and communities? How do we construct
relationships and communities that lead us to act and fight for what is best for everyone
because it is the best for each and every one of those who constitute that “everyone”? These
are the questions emerging from a complex social pedagogy, which, attached to the
complexities of life in contemporary societies, attempts to answer them. And it intends to do
so by accompanying us in the process of learning the social while we construct it and live it.
Through the multiplicity of methodological, professional, and occupational forms in which
social pedagogy can be embodied, it appears today as an emerging, innovative, and very
promising area in the socio‐cultural field. But to truly fulfill this role and meeting the
expectations placed upon it, from my point of view, it needs to overcome simplicities,
Manichaeism, and polarizations that have structured and constructed it over more than a
century of history in Europe. Its extension to the Latin American context presents a unique
opportunity to rethink and reconstruct it from a fresh new view that provides also new
perspectives and approaches. I agree with Pearce et al. when they say that Latin America has
generated a level of social and political creativity, which has caught the imagination of many
parts of the world (2010, p. 266).
Both in Europe and Latin America, the last years have been prodigal with thoughts,
meetings, and discussions, which have sought to define and specify what social pedagogy is.
To this line of thoughts, this work is added, and it tries to offer a panoramic view of the
evolution and status of social pedagogy in Latin America. The objective that animates this
work is not to compare the academic or professional paths of social pedagogy in Latin
America or Europe, nor to compare its contents, definitions, and boundaries between
1
Being fair with what I sustain in this chapter, I think that in De Sousa’s idea it should be individual, group, and
community (interests) instead of social (interests).
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