Regional Spotlight Italian Sociology of Culture: A Method to the Madness

Abstract

This essay provides a critical overview of the development, transformations, and current configuration of the Italian sociology of culture. It argues that, despite a long history of sociological inquiry into cultural phenomena, Italy lacks a cohesive and durable tradition or field of cultural sociology. The Italian case is marked by fragmentation, both intellectual and institutional, where individual initiatives prevail over stable research networks or theoretical schools. The essay traces this condition back to the peculiar postwar rebirth of Italian sociology, shaped by external models and hindered by longstanding academic resistance and organizational rigidity. It explores the evolution of cultural inquiry within Italian sociology across key historical periods – from early postwar modernization narratives to the ideological polarization of the 1970s, and the subsequent academic normalization of the discipline. Special attention is given to the shifting role of textbooks as a lens into changing self-understandings of the discipline and the ongoing tension between analytical and empirical approaches to culture. The emergence of new subfields, growing internationalization, and the proliferation of teaching materials in recent years suggest that the sociology of culture in Italy is entering a new phase. Yet, the lack of sustained debate, institutional coherence, and theoretical consolidation persists. The essay concludes by proposing that the Italian case exemplifies a model of intellectual production akin to the ‘Third Italy’ economic model: decentralized, artisanal, and occasionally brilliant – yet inherently fragile. This ambivalent legacy may offer both challenges and opportunities for future developments in Italian cultural sociology.