Roberto Cipriani (b. Rovato, 1945) is an Italian social scientist. He is professor emeritus of sociologyatRoma Tre University. "He has written extensively on popular religion, the sacred and secularization",[1] and is known for his unconventional applications of the "concept of 'diffused religion' (religione diffusa)[2] and then that of 'religion of values' (religione dei valori)".[3] He has made analytical contributions to the concept of diffused religion by using grounded theory.[4] "He also underlines what he calls the 'meta-institutional' character of this religion, even if, he says, these characteristics have a religious institutional origin".[5]
He is the author of more than ninety books and one thousand one hundred articles and his work has been translated into English, French, Russian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Basque, Catalan, Polish, Turkish and Portuguese.[6]
From 1997 he has been a Professor of Sociology at Roma Tre University, where from 2001 to 2012 he directed the Department of Education. From 2004 to 2007 he was President of the Italian Association of Sociology. From 1995 to 1998 he was editor-in-chief of International Sociology. From 2007 to 2008 he was co-editor of Annual Review of Italian Sociology. In 2006 he was Chancellor Dunning Trust Lecturer at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, on Human Values - Religious and Secular.[citation needed]
In 2008 he was Directeur d'Etudes at Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. From 2009 to 2015 he was made president of the European Council of National Associations of Sociology,[8] part of the European Sociological Association.
He has conducted comparative empirical research in Italy in Orune (Sardinia), in Greece in Episkepsi (Corfu), in Piekary Śląskie and in Mexico in Nahuatzen (Michoacán), on the relationship between solidarity and community.
He was President of the Italian Association of University Professors. At the suggestion and invitation of Michael Burawoy, he was a candidate for President of the International Sociological Association at the XIII World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama in 2014. He edits the series 'Modernity and Society' by Armando Editore and 'Perspectives on the Sociology of Religion' by Edizioni Borla. He is on the editorial board of the journals Current Sociology, Religions, Sociedad y Religión, Sociétés, La Critica Sociologica, Religioni e Società. He is Advisory Editor of the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. He is an Associate of the Institute of Research on Population and Social Policy of the National Council of Research. He is President of ICSOR (International Center for the Sociology of Religion: www.icsor.it).
1 DOBBELAERE, Karel in, SWATOS, William H. Jr. Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. London: AltaMira, 1998 p. 93 ISBN0-7619-8956-0.
2 “Religion and politics. The italian case. Diffused religion”, Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, 58/1, 1984, pp. 29–51.
3 ANTES, Peter, Armin W. Geertz, Randi R. Warne. New Approaches to the Study of Religion. v. 2 – Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches, Berlin, Library of Congress, 2004, p. 203. ISBN3-11-018175-4.
4 CIPRIANI 1992: 265, apud ANTES 2004, cit. Idem.
5 (Idem)
6 From his official site7Idem8"Cipriani, Roberto". Retrieved 31 March 2019.
2015. Sociology of Religion. An Historical Introduction, translated by L. Ferrarotti, new introduction by H. G. Schneiderman, introduction by W. K. Ferguson, Transaction, New Brunswick, USA, London, UK;
^DOBBELAERE, Karel in, SWATOS, Wiliam H. Jr. Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. London: AltaMira, 1998 p. 93 ISBN0-7619-8956-0.
^“Religion and politics. The italian case. Diffused religion”, Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, 58/1, 1984, pp. 29–51.
^ANTES, Peter, Armin W. Geertz, Randi R. Warne. New Approaches to the Study of Religion. v. 2 – Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches, Berlin, Library of Congress, 2004, p. 203. ISBN3-11-018175-4.
