Matteo Bortolini

Analytical Sociology and Its Discontents

Despite the many attempts to hide, or even ghost of Talcott Parsons is still haunting soc nize the continuing importance of his sem 1995), other scholars around the globe are Parsonian tradition alive and further it in its two collections of essays under review are i can be conceived and approached today. Ac the first volume in a series entitled Studie Helmut Staubmann and dedicated to the do and application of the intellectual tradition Parsons: A Theory of Social Action for the Tw the papers presented at a conference held i 2002 to commemorate the centenary of P Studies (henceforth MS) focuses mainly on issues – with chapters by H. Staubmann, V G. Sciortino, and a hitherto unpublished the history of ideas, – After Parsons (hence social institutions and processes (chapters by and H. Bershady), societal community an Alexander, G. Sciortino, R.N. Bellah, and in sociological theory and research (chap U. Gerhardt, and C. Camic) and the h Tiryakian, R.C. Fox, and V.M. Lidz). European Journal of Social Theory 10(1): 153–172

Found in Translation: Habermas and Anthropotechnics

Abstract In his recent work on postsecular societies Jürgen Habermas has stressed the need for a dialogue between religious and nonreligious citizens aimed at strengthening social integration and rejuvenating the moral bases of modern political and juridical institutions. This dialogue should focus on the translation of religious traditions into rational, secular forms. In his more recent work on the social function of rituals, however, he rejected the Durkheimian view of public secular rituals as mechanisms for fostering social integration. In this article I discuss Habermas’s early reflections on postsecularism and assess his interpretation of public religious rituals as sources of social integration. I then propose an alternative to his translation proviso whereby religious symbolic content would be translated into behavior-regulating technologies aimed at developing the dispositional resources needed for a continuous postsecular dialogue between religious and nonreligious citizens.

Myths and Histories of Italian Sociology

This first chapter introduces an analytical narrative of the process of institutionalization of Italian sociology, as an inquiry into the creation of infrastructures for practicing sociology as an academic discipline. The chapter questions existing disciplinary memory about the ‘rebirth’ of Italian sociology after the Second World War and describes the typical features of early positivistic debates and the role of statistician Corrado Gini and his school during the Fascist regime. The two main theses framing this historical–sociological reconstruction are then advanced: post-war Italian sociology as a complex polycentric endeavor and the ‘colonization’ of sociology by academic mores and processes after its full institutionalization in the mid-1960s.

Entrenchment and the Emergence of New Structures

This chapter surveys the emergence of the major structural cleavage around which Italian sociology developed in the 1970s: the grouping of sociologists as two loosely defined ‘Catholic’ and ‘lay’ camps. The first group coalesced around Achille Ardigo , while the lay camp assumed a more polycentric , fragmented pattern. Membership would influence almost every aspect of a sociologist’s scholarly and academic career. In time, the camps grew increasingly self-referential and hindered the emergence of a true scientific community among Italian sociologists. The chapter also follows the estrangement of Franco Ferrarotti from his colleagues and the emergence of a third camp composed of Roman and Southern sociologists. It ends with an interpretation of the process leading to the foundation of the Associazione italiana di sociologia , established in 1982.

The Hubs of Newborn Sociology

This chapter focuses on one crucial element of post-war Italian sociology: extra-academic research centers . These institutes were venues for training young sociologists, creating scholarly and political networks, and promoting the discipline and its institutionalization. After a survey of major research centers, the chapter focuses on three cases: the Centro nazionale di prevenzione e difesa sociale in Milan, a research center with close relations to the political establishment; the Associazione il Mulino in Bologna, a cultural association, which created an intellectual infrastructure for the discipline; and the Ufficio Relazioni Sociali of the very large Olivetti enterprise in Ivrea, which framed sociological research as an element in a wider political–cultural project of social reform.

A Fascinating and Precarious Project: Sociology in Trento

This chapter considers the creation of the first academic institution granting accredited degrees in sociology as a case study in the institutionalization of sociology in Italy. The Istituto Universitario Superiore di Scienze Sociali was established in Trento in 1962 thanks to the visionary drive of Christian Democratic politician Bruno Kessler . The process involved local and nationwide networks of politicians and social scientists, the elaboration of innovative scholarly and educational programs, and continued quarrels about the influence of scholars from disciplines other than sociology. Trento quickly became one of the hotbeds of student revolts, with different waves of protest and occupation peaking in 1966–1968 and the emergence of a newer generation of sociologists who forcefully contested scholarly and academic conventions in the early 1970s.

The Dream of Institutionalization

The consequences of the full entrance of sociology within the Italian system of higher education in the 1960s are the main focus of this chapter. After a brief description of the Italian centralized-but-fragmented ‘chair system ,’ the chapter describes the emergence of a new generation of sociologists, properly trained in research institutes and much more professionalized than their teachers and academic patrons. The 1960s were also the time for a revolution in scholarly journals, which quickly became venues for the publication of sociological work identified with a school, and a time of intense editorial work regarding translations of major sociological works from abroad. As sociology became an academicized discipline, non-academic institutions and research centers underwent a profound transformation that left them weakened and fragmented.

Routinization and Globalization: The 1980s and Beyond

The chapter presents one final thesis: After the normalization of the early 1980s, the history of Italian sociology came to an abrupt end. The current state of the discipline is one of routinization without standardization, profoundly influenced by nationwide higher education reforms and political–academic relationships among the three camps. The chapter describes the establishment of doctoral programs in sociology and the unprecedented wave of theoretical work in the mid-1980s, the recent development of the three camps, and the debut of sociologists at the apex of Italian government. It also hints at the ‘new careers’ of sociologists trained after 1990, who have increasingly widened their geographical and intellectual horizons, and ends with a hesitant note on the future of Italian sociology.

After ’68: A New Generation of Sociologists

Sociologists born in the late 1930s came of age as a ‘disobedient generation’: They contested established ways of doing social science and introduced, for the first time, a massive dosage of Marxism into Italian sociology. Many young sociologists developed a new style of ‘co-research ’ based on a radical critique of Italian modernization . At the same time, the emergence of ‘mass university ’ helped them find a quick pathway to tenured jobs within the academic system . This weakened their radical stance and led to a rapid process of normalization. In the 1970s, the enlargement of the Italian sociological community gave rise to geographical and subdisciplinary cleavages, with a prevalence of Northern and Roman scholarly clusters and the importation of new sociological trends from outside Italy.

The Post-war Period: ‘Inventing’ Sociology in Italy

In the 1950s, the so-called first generation of post-war sociologists saw themselves as contributing to Italian modernization by providing a particular kind of rational, empirically based knowledge aimed at orienting policy decisions. As a result, early post-war sociology emerged as a Janus-faced discipline: Young would-be sociologists had to differentiate their practices from the humanities and sociology as it was understood by statisticians. At the same time, they had the support of powerful academic brokers from the fields of law and philosophy , thus creating an ambiguous situation. The chapter surveys early political–ideological cleavages, pioneering experiences of conducting empirical research and teaching sociology in a hostile academic environment, and the creation of disciplinary hubs in Turin and Florence.