Education Policy as a Mechanism for Secularization in a Catholic Majority Country: The Case of Uruguay, (1877 – 1932)

Uruguay presents a continuing paradox to sociologists of religion. Embedded in a continent characterized by relatively high religiosity and religious dynamism, how is it that Uruguay has maintained an intensely secular society for over 100 years? The central claim of this study suggests that secularization achieved in Uruguayan society is to be understood as historically grounded, embedded in conflict between interests groups, and attributable to agency more than macro-social structures. Bourdieu's concepts of field and capital provide a useful theoretical framework for understanding how internal dynamics of competition and conflict between anti-religious and religious elites in the sub-field of education diminished Catholic socialization capacity. Competition and conflict between religious and secular projects generated a specific form of symbolic capital — representational capital — the capacity to contextualize the elite project through social representations to non-elites in order to affirm the project's relevance and legitimacy. At stake for the group able to dominate discursive and representational capital was the opportunity to gain the loyalty, allegiance and trust of popular sectors. Because both secular and religious elites engaged in discursive practices, the analytical focus of this study is on discursive language, symbolic representation and strategic action that emerged in the educational field. This study employs a case study method conducted in historical perspective. A deviant case study can be particularly revealing because an explanation must be developed as to why the case did not conform to a pattern or outcome established by the other cases. This research will contribute theoretically and substantively to the historical debate of secularization by showing that secularization is not an inevitable macro-social mechanical process imputed to impersonal and abstract forces, but is carried out by people and groups who manifestly want to laicize society and its sub-structures.