Roberto Cipriani is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Roma Tre University, where he has been Chairman of the Department of Educational Sciences from 2001 to 2012. He has been visiting professor at the University of Berkeley. He is Past President of the Italian Sociological Association. He has been Professor of Qualitative Methodology at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), of Qualitative Sociology at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Recife, Brazil), of Qualitative Methodology at the University of Buenos Aires, of Political Science at the Laval University in Québec, of Sociology of Religion at Renmin University of Beijing. He has to his credit numerous theoretical and empirical investigations. His main and best-known sociological theory is that of “diffused religion”, based on the processes of education, socialization, and communication and applicable both to a context such as the Italian one and in other countries where a particular religion is dominant.
He has conducted comparative empirical research in Italy in Orune (Sardinia), in Greece in Episkepsi (Corfu), in Mexico in Nahuatzen (Michoacán), and in Haifa (Israel) on the relationships between solidarity and community. He has made research films on popular festive celebrations, in particular on Holy Week in Cerignola in Puglia (“Rossocontinuo”) and in Spain (“Semana Santa en Sevilla”, “Semana Santa en Valladolid”), and on the patronal feast of a Mexican pueblo (“Las fiestas de San Luís Rey”).
At the suggestion and invitation of Michael Burawoy, at the 13th World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama in 2014, he was a candidate as President of the International Sociological Association. He edits the series “Modernity and Society” of Armando Editore and “Perspectives on the Sociology of Religion” of 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 has been Directeur d’Études – Maison des Sciences de l’Homme – Paris and “Chancellor Dunning Trust Lecturer” at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada (the same title has been awarded to Martha Nussbaum and Charles Taylor).
He is also former Past President of the ISA Research Committee for the Sociology of Religion. He has been Editor-in-Chief of International Sociology (I.S.A. official journal), and member of the Executive Committee of the AISLF (International Association of French-Speaking Sociologists) and the International Society for the Sociology of Religion. He is a member of the Executive Committee of IIS (International Institute of Sociology). He has researched in Greece, Mexico, Spain and Israel and has produced some research movies. He is Past President of the Council of National Sociological Associations in the European Sociological Associations. He is Past President of the Italian Association of University Teachers.
He is president of the International Center for the Sociology of Religion (ICSOR) and an associate of the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies of the National Research Council.
In 2023, he was awarded the 40th ‘Fountains of Rome’ International Prize, “for his great commitment to the promotion of Culture and International Dialogue between Peoples, between Religions, between Communities in the sign of a great respect for the Relations of all and in the continuous search for common international motivations to make the new youth grow in political and human dialogue in the continuous search for a true and open social confrontation to always seek Peace, Solidarity, an open and constructive Confrontation for a shared future”.
He is the author of over ninety volumes and one thousand publications with translations into English, French, Russian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Portuguese, Basque, Catalan, Albanian and Turkish.
Prizes and Recognition: 1983, 1986, 1990, and 1997 – National winner of the “Premio della Cultura” (Culture outstanding) by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers; 1987 – Winner, ex aequo, of the international “Pitrè – Salomone Marino” prize for the book Il Cristo rosso (Red Christ); 2008 – “Gennaro Finamore – City of Lanciano” Prize for study and research in the liminal areas of knowledge; 2011 – Recognition of National Special Prize “Non omnia possumus omnes”; 2013 – President of the Jury of the “Nicola Zingarelli National Literary Prize”, 6th Edition; 2015 – Bronze “Melvin Jones” plaque from the International Association of the Lions Clubs, in recognition of dedication to humanitarian service and in particular to “Culture and Society”.