Sociology In Italy Research Articles

La ricerca sociale pubblica in Italia attraverso i percorsi di istituzionalizzazione: una ricostruzione introduttiva

This introductory essay examines the development and nuances of public social research in Italy, focusing on the influence and reception of Michael Burawoy’s ideas and the institutionalization of public sociology in the Italian context. Through a historical and critical analysis, important phases in the development of public sociology in Italy up to the present were identified. Finally, a systematic literature review was presented to quantify and analyze the scientific contributions in the field of public sociology and to show how the discipline has resonated in the debate within the Italian academic community. This work not only provides a historical and theoretical overview, but also contextualizes the current challenges and the role of sociology in the Italian public arena.

Sociology and Sociological Education in Italy Between Universities and Upper Secondary Schools

AbstractSociology was first introduced to Italy in 1961, when Franco Ferrarotti became the first tenure track professor in 1960 at Rome’s Sapienza University. The Institute of Sociology was founded in the 1963/1964 academic year, and in 1962, the first Faculty of Sociology was established at the University of Trento. The process of formation is rather late when considering both the development of sociology as an autonomous science and the historical evolution of the various European universities. Sociology is now widely recognised as a discipline in Italy and is taught at universities as part of both bachelor’s and master's degree programmes, as well as in high schools (known as secondary schools of first level) for students aged 14 to 18/19. This work presents the development of sociology in Italy and its formation. Beginning with the development of sociology, it provides a historical analysis of its scientific recognition, role within the social system, and evolution as a science and association. It then explores the disciplin’s place in the Italian university educational system, analyzing its changes over the years. Finally, it discusses the formation of sociology within schools.

Sociocultural Context, Reference Scholars and Contradictions in the Origin and Development of Sociology in Italy

AbstractThe beginnings of sociology in Italy correspond more or less to those of the birth of sociology as an autonomous science in France by Durkheim (considered the founding father of the discipline except for the term that, as is well known, was coined by Comte). Its origins, therefore, can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century and its development substantially follows the socio-political development of Italy, which can be substantially divided into three historical phases (the Savoy monarchy between 1861 and 1922; the authoritarian fascist regime with totalitarian characteristics between 1922 and 1943, and the period of the democratic republic from 1946 onwards can be considered as the “rebirth” not only of Italy but also of sociology). This article aims to outline these phases through an in-depth examination of some of the Italian sociologists who, in the different phases (up to our contemporary times), have had greater relevance and influence, even outside the Italian context.

La sociologia secondo Indro Montanelli

The article is an analysis of the writings of Indro Montanelli about sociology. Montanelli, probably the best known Italian journalist of the XXth Century, was, admittedly, an opponent of sociology, which he considered a pseudo-science, able only to repeat self-evident truths in an unnecessarily complicated language. Montanelli’s opposition to sociology is frequently expressed in an ironic form (and Francesco Alberoni is the main target of these ironies), but sometimes it gives rise to more complex and original analysis, as when in some post-war articles, he highlights what, in his opinion, is a link between the spread of polls and the dangers of disguised forms of totalitarianism. At the origin of Montanellian opposition to sociology lies the adherence to a pessimistic view of man and the rejection of what Wrong called the «oversocialized conception of man». From the re-reading of Montanelli’s articles on the subject, however, the appreciation for some classics of sociology such as Weber, Sombart and Pareto emerges. Some of his texts also lead to the hypothesis that his approach to reality tended, in an intuitive way, beyond any disciplinary rigor, towards a different idea of sociology, based on the ability to observe everyday life, and on the interpretation of social reality as a form of theatrical representation.The article therefore intends to capture in Montanelli’s texts on sociology a more nuanced and articulated position than the pure and simple refusal of the discipline. The analysis proposed by the article, illuminating some little-known aspects of one of the most followed opinion-leaders of Italian journalism, provides a significant contribution to understanding the difficult process of institutionalization of sociology in Italy.

Security Actors Today: The Role of Sociological Skills

The complexity of contemporary societies has strongly changed the concept of security and, as a consequence, altered the role and functions of law enforcement which is more and more expected to cope with complex situations requiring not only punitive measures and control functions, but also the capacity to interact in a structured manner with the different actors involved. For their part, such changes pose questions on new required skills and subsequent training needs. In this framework, it is interesting to illustrate the data which emerged from a study on graduates in Sociology in Italy – part of which is in law enforcement – showing the specificity of the employees in this sector with regard to the assessment of their own working position and the skills required for their job. This investigation showed that those working in law enforcement have a more positive evaluation of the average of their professional condition and that their working context greatly appreciate the richness and complexity of their work-related skills not only in the legal field, but also in the sociological field. Data prove the inadequacy of the ‘old stereotypes’ on law enforcement which do not acknowledge the complexity of the job it carries out and the multiple skills required to face new challenges. In other words, for at least a part of top-ranking positions in law enforcement, an interdisciplinary preparation (in which there are sociological disciplines) is significantly and increasingly requested, as it allows not only to apply laws and rules, but also to interpret the ongoing changes and adopt an approach based on dialogue with the different actors (institutions and concrete individuals) with whom they have to interact in an ‘urban security’ perspective.

The origins of Catholic sociology in Italy: the influence of Giuseppe Toniolo

Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918) fut sans doute le plus important representant italien du catholicisme social. Dans les annees 1870, il explora la realite economique italienne avec la plus grande attention. Dans les annees 1880, influence par l’Ecole historique allemande, Toniolo se pencha davantage sur le passe economique de l’Italie, ainsi que sur ses traditions culturelles. A la fin du xix e siecle, il retourna a l’etude du present et se pencha en particulier sur la question du capitalisme qui, a ses yeux, avait provoque une rupture avec le passe et mis en peril non seulement la cohesion sociale de la societe italienne, mais aussi de la societe europeenne. Il s’interessa aussi aux mecanismes economiques, politiques et sociaux susceptibles d’apaiser les tensions entre les classes sociales et, par consequent, de prevenir l’avancee du socialisme

Remembering Guido Martinotti as an Applied Sociologist to the Urban Mobilities and Local Community

Guido Martinotti (M) has been one of the most relevant representatives of the applied sociology in Italy. The paper explains the origins ad developments of his ideas and researches on the links between urban transformations, tourism/hospitality and human mobilities and the application to the reform of the Italian academic system with the introduction of new courses on tourism (19992001). M and John Urry (U) are the pioneers in the new intersectorial and interdisciplinary approach to the study of tourism included in the broader context of advanced-economy cities, of the cities of information flows, intense exchanges and accelerated mobilities. M stressed a new direction in planning the local community and “hospitable city” between urban marketing and bottomup regulation. In 1999 he pushed for the bill dealing with the nascent specialist degree in “Planning and Management of Tourism Systems” to be discussed in the Italian parliament, which in 2001 passed Law 135 establishing “local tourist systems”. M constructed the degree “Tourist Sciences and Local Community” (University of Milano Bicocca) with an educational mix of territorial, social, economic, business, literary and technological disciplines.

I venti anni della sociologia dell'ambiente in Italia

Environmental sociology is one of the youngest sub-disciplines within the field of sociology. This paper examines the development of this new area of study in our country, in occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the first departments of environmental sociology in Italy. In the first part of the article we give an overview of its historical development. In the second part, we focus on the debates, key questions and issues that the young discipline deals with. We conclude reflecting on essays by Italian environmental sociologists who, through their theoretical and empirical work, have contributed to the development of environmental sociology in our country.

Valutare l'università: una sfida non solo per l'Anvur

National system to evaluate universities started in Europe at the very beginning of 80’s. In that period the growing number of students and the consequent changes in their composition moved the universities from «quality as a fact» to «quality as a problem». In the same time, the need for accountability was a challenge both for the governance and for the Governments, that adopted two different model of evaluating: a direct control or a control through a national independent agency. This paper, starting from Italian experience of Anvur, defines the aims of evaluating universities and research, related to the social role of higher education. It presents the actors, contents and methods (the «who, what, how») of the evaluation process, based on quality assurance and internal assessment, enhancing both technical and cultural problems and perspectives of an issue quite new for Italian universities. The recent introduction by law of research assessment in the Italian academic system has triggered a wide debate especially focused on its weakness and paradoxes as well as its potential negative effects on disciplinary autonomy and freedom of research. Contrary to this vision, in this paper I argue that evaluation mechanisms should be welcomed in those disciplinary fields - as sociology in Italy - which for historical, cultural and political causes have not been able to organize themselves as scientific communities, i.e. as communities of practice grounded on peer control and evaluation. The paper offers a brief sociological analysis of the social organization of Italian academic sociology, highlighting the deleterious effects on scientific communication and value recognition fostered by its segmentation in mutually exclusive, sometimes conflicting sometimes colluding, corporate groups (so called «component»). Far from being an assault on its freedom and autonomy, a state-backed system of evaluation may be instrumental to the creation and legitimation of a disciplinary culture of self evaluation and value assessment according to transparent, institutionalized and not provincial quality standards.

Per (ri)valutare la sociologia, in Italia

The recent introduction by law of research assessment in the Italian academic system has triggered a wide debate especially focused on its weakness and paradoxes as well as its potential negative effects on disciplinary autonomy and freedom of research. Contrary to this vision, in this paper I argue that eva- luation mechanisms should be welcomed in those disciplinary fields - as sociology in Italy - which for historical, cultural and political causes have not been able to organize themselves as scientific communities, i.e. as communities of practice grounded on peer control and evaluation. The paper offers a brief sociological analysis of the social organization of Italian academic sociology, highlighting the deleterious effects on scientific communication and value recognition fostered by its segmentation in mutually exclusive, sometimes conflicting sometimes colluding, corporate groups (so called «component»). Far from being an assault on its freedom and autonomy, a state-backed system of evaluation may be instrumental to the creation and legitimation of a disciplinary culture of self evaluation and value assessment according to transparent, institutionalized and not provincial quality standards.

Children’s Citizenships

During the 1970s and 1980s, sociological studies in Italy were exclusively concerned with ‘adolescence’ as distinct from the general category of ‘childhood’. In the 1990s, local administrations and national government promoted new opportunities for children’s participation in society, and sociologists began to analyse the various aspects of this participation. Since the 1990s, sociological research has included the legal and political bases of children’s citizenship and rights, forms of interaction promoting children’s participation, ways of including children in mainstream cultural tendencies, children’s observations of their social context, intercultural situations involving children, deviance and the labelling of children. The expansion of childhood sociology, however, has been slow, and the political impulse which supported children’s participation has partially evaporated. Childhood sociology in Italy remains marginal in scientific research and university teaching. Its future depends partly on renewed political commitment to promoting children’s participation; however, its main obstacle is the lukewarm interest within the sociological community.

Economic Sociology in Italy: Past and Present

(2002). Economic Sociology in Italy: Past and Present. International Review of Sociology: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 145-157.

Экономическая социология в Италии

Экономическая социология в Италии

Sociology In Italy

Sociology In Italy

Sport, Political System and Sociology in Italy

Italian sport was for a long time considered by the liberal élites, the fascist regime and the pro-catholic or pro-left mass organizations themselves as a powerful means of social control. Only the growth of a self-managed sport movement during the last twenty years encouraged the sociological research to investigate the new social culture of body and game, the role of sport in a pervasive media-system, the Italian football hooliganism. The article draws a brief outline of these studies.

The Present State of Sociology in Italy

The Present State of Sociology in Italy

Notes on qualitative sociology in Italy

Notes on qualitative sociology in Italy

Two generations of sociology in Italy*

Two generations of sociology in Italy*

Sociology in Italy

T HE development of sociology in Italy has been marked by illustrious achievements and notable disappointments. A proper evaluation of both is essential to a valid appraisal and is of critical importance to an appreciation of the place of Italian sociology within the compass of international Italian scholars have made significant contributions to the development of sociology as a serious Long before Comte had coined the term, Italy had contributed a number of her illustrious sons to the ranks of those who prepared Western science for the advent of systematic sociology. As early as Niccolo Machiavelli we have, in Italy, the lines cast for a nomothetic discipline which concerned itself with the laws of society. Similarly, the Scienza nuova of Giambattista Vico is unequivocally a treatise in historical sociology.' In more recent time the names of Cesare Lombroso, Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Roberto Michels immediately come to mind. Many others could be added to their number. Any such enumeration would necessarily be arbitrary-but it would certainly include such notables as Scipio Sighele, Achille Loria, Luigi Sturzo, and Alfredo Niceforo.2 The disappointments which have attended the evolution of sociology in Italy have been a consequence of the fact that its growth has been sporadic rather than constant. The development of sociology in Italy lacks the continuity so necessary for the maturation of a science. This disability, undoubtedly, arises from the fact that

Sociology in Italy

SOCIAL scientists who are seeking new research areas should look to Italy, for there lie virtually virgin areas in which to conduct investigation and explication of phenomena having local, international and universal application. The cultural setting of Italy presents the social scientist a wide range of problems with both theoretical and practical significance. Within the framework of western industrialized civilization, one can find problems typical of urbanized European and American settings. Yet, in the underdeveloped rural regions, one can find conditions that are, in many ways, more common to non-Western societies. Italy does not offer the cultural range that one finds in India, but it also is an ethnological paradise. The cultural and linguistic variation in adjacent geographic areas is widely known, but its intensity must be seen first hand to be appreciated. In one of the villages in which two of the writers did field work, there are two distinct dialects and other cultural distinctions. Although each of the two dialect areas has its own parish, it cannot be called campanilismo in the strictest sense, for the residents of one parish can clearly hear the bells of the other. Italy is an excellent place for extending the studies in the little community that have been done in Mexico and India.1 Some mountain-top villages have maintained an almost incredible degree of cultural isolation. Others have had extensive contact with Italian cities, largely through emigration and the returnees. The combination of over-population and under-development has also sent many villagers to the Americas and to western Europe. The American social scientist working in a village must take especial care to avoid identification with the American Department of State because young Italians hope to emigrate to the U.S.A. and fear that any American may be gathering information on past political behavior which might prohibit such emigration. With one to two million Communists in Italy, and wide-spread understanding of America's view of Communism, this is hardly an unreasonable fear. However, the people of the country are friendly, especially to one who has a modest knowledge of the language, and the warmth and friendliness of the Italian social scientist give a guarantee of ready acceptance of the American sociologist who ventures into this land. In order to understand the background of the present status of sociology a preliminary explanation must be given. Italy has only one professor of sociology, Professor Camillo Pellizzi, who holds the chair at the University of Florence, and is presently on leave as Counciller on Education and Applied Social Sciences to the European Productivity Agency at the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. One other young man, Professor Filippo Barbano has been certified as a professor of sociology, but he has not yet been appointed to a post. How did such a situation arise? Despite Croce and Gentile, respect for sociology in Italy has never been strong, and most people teaching what is purveyed as sociology lack both respect for and esteem in the field. Almost all that passes for sociology in Italy today roots in Pareto and has extended its branches not far beyond the thinking of Croce. The coming of Mussolini wrote finis to sociology in Italy, and since his departure from the scene in 1945, progress has been exceedingly slow and difficult. Immediately after the era of Mussolini, the state universities of Italy were required to file lists of courses they would teach in the future. This was interpreted at that time as a potential democratic reorganization of the ideas that they had been required to teach under fascist domination. The net result, however, was a stranglehold on the freedom I See e.g. 0. Lewis, Life in a Mexican Village: Tepotztlan Restudied, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1951; Village India, edited by McKim Marriott, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956; and, R. Redfield, The Little Community, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955.