Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

768 Eric Trist
careers and the strengthening of the methods and systems of educational and financial
assistance towards the achievement of research careers, moreover, can overcome this
deficiency in the developing countries, which will never be able to arrive at satisfactory
solutions of their own problems without the services of their own researchers, despite
all the refinements of research technique, indigenous researchers are the only ones able
to apprehend many of the essential aspects of a situation, more particularly in the
domain of the sciences of man.
12. The situation in the very small countries in which social researchis virtually
non-existent was brought out in a report from the Instituto Ecuatoriano de
Sociologia y TCcnica in Quito.105 The absenceofempirical studies €rad hampered
the work of those concerned with planning the execution of the Alliance for
Progress Programme. It had led to serious misconceptions and mistakes on
questions such as land reform. The creation of a central social research institute
is proposed which would be autonomous, though supported by a regular income
from the state budget. It would orientate its programme along lines correspond-
ing to the real needs of the country.
13. The sense of what is required is well illustrated by the Venezuelan report:
Venezuela’s most urgent lines for economic research, which should be problem-focused
in every case, are:
a. amplilication and diversification of diagnostic research on the economic structure
with a view, not only to supplementing the studies now proceeding but also to apply-
ing research to a sufficiently low level of group sizes to secure the most objective
notion of actual structures which very often are rather different from the statistical
averages yielded by diagnosis at national, regional or sub-regional levels;
b. operational studies of feasibility directed to designing production microstructures
adapted to the resources available to small groups and offering possibilities of larger-
scale integrations;
c. comprehensive fact-finding studies of nation-wide economic macrostructures such
as markets, credit, etc.
However, broadly speaking, the country’s greatest lack is of specialists trained in
research, financial resources being generally adequate.
14. One of the main difficulties in Latin America has been the absence of a
model in the countries which provided their culture of origin, Spain and Por-
tugal.93 During the last 10-15 years, however, the social sciences have begun to
develop in Spain in relation to economic and industrial expansion. Though the
established ‘faculties’ remain much as they were a number of university insti-
tutes have grown up outside them. Independent bodies have also appeared. In
1956 a School of Business Administration was founded at the new private
University of Guipuzcoa at San Sebastih. It conducts five-year courses which
include psychology and sociology which cannot be taken as a first degree in state
universities. It has a programme of post-graduate studies with international
connections. Schools of psychology, sociology and social studies open to those
who have taken a first degree have become affiliated to a number of the smaller
universities and to the Universities of Madrid and Barcelona.
15. A considerable part in these developments has been takenby the Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Set up by the government as long ago
as 1940 its function is to
develop, direct and co-ordinate research in fields covered by the universities, the various