The Department of Sociology and Social Research – the first in Italy – was founded in 1984 at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Trento so as to tie together long-standing cultural, organizational and scientific traditions in the social sciences.

 Its research has traditionally focused on the themes of  social structure and inequality, social mobility and collective action; transformation of the Nation State in Europe; cognition, organizational learning and aesthetics; history of sociological analysis and an online bibliography of Italian sociology; and values, social and territorial belonging and social development.

 The Department co-ordinates several joint research projects in collaboration with other universities and departments, both national and international. Examples include projects on Social Capital and Economic Performance at Local Level, the Italian Household Panel Survey (third wave), the Europeanization of Italian Politics and Society, and European and Italian Values. The Department is associated with the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). It is administratively responsible for the activities of the inter-faculty Jean Monnet European Centre that co-ordinates EU-funded research projects on Organised Civil Society and European Governance and on Racism and Xenophobia and Institutional Discrimination in Europe.

Contact Details 

Address:

University of Trento

Department of Sociology and Social Research

Via Verde 26

I-38100 Trento

ITALY

Tel.:

+ 39 046 188 1326 

Fax.:

+ 39  046 188 1348

E-mail:

carlo.ruzza@soc.unitn.it

Web-page:

www.soc.unitn.it

About Carlo Ruzza

From University of Trento

Carlo Ruzza, Ph. D, is Associate Professor and teaches Sociology of Migration at Trento University. He has written about social movements and European studies. He received his PhD from Harvard University (U:S.A.) , he has been a Jean Monnet fellow at the European Institute in Florence (Italy) , a Lecturer in Sociology at Essex University and at the University of Surrey (United Kingdom)  Currently he is the scientific co-ordinator of the EU funded projects Organised Civil Society and European Governance” He has been involved as team director or team member in six EU-funded projects on a range of topics including antiracism and xenophobia, the environmental policy implications of tourism, other environmental issues related to the role of EU institutions and the media, and education policy.

 He has published more than 20 book chapters and articles in refereed journals on EU coalitions and social movements. Most recently he has published Europe and Civil Society: Movement Coalitions and European Governance (Manchester University Press, 2004).