Subsidiarity and education in Chile: historical study of a polysemic political principle

Abstract

Based on a historical and ideological study of the concept of subsidiarity, this article proposes an analysis of its application in the field of education in Chile. In this way, the role of the jurist Jaime Guzmán is shown as a synthesis of the Catholic tradition with the neoliberal thought, when integrating the subsidiarity in the Chilean juridical system. The ambivalence of this institutional organization principle allows to justify the democratic character of the educational system thanks to the freedom of teaching that it enshrines. The democratic transition deepens this model with an expansion of private provision in higher education, which demonstrates an ideological continuation of the concept of subsidiarity. However, this same concept can have another ideological content based on the idea that education should be understood as a social sphere outside the logic of the market, as demonstrated by the student movements in Chile. A horizontal proposal of subsidiarity can thus be theorized.