El Gobierno de las poblaciones: Augusto Orrego Luco y la Cuestión Social en Chile

Abstract

Based on two essential texts by Chilean doctor Augusto Orrego Luco – La cuestion social (The Social Question, 1897) and his Discurso de toma de posesion de su cargo de presidente de la Sociedad Medica (Speech on taking up his position as pres­ident of the Medical Society, 1895) – we analyse this author’s proposals regarding the role of science in governing populations. The analysis focuses on concepts such as the vagabond race in relation to the social and racial question in late-19th-century Chile, and identifies scientific influences such as biological determinism and the theory of degeneracy.