PIERPAOLO DONATI

Date of Birth: 30 September 1946 Place: Budrio, Bologna Italy Nomination: 22 December 1997 Field: Sociology, Social Policy Title: Professor

Institute Address:
Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Sociologia, Strada Maggiore, 45, I-40125 Bologna (Italy)

Most important awards, prizes and academies Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy of the Italian Sociological Association, 1984-1993; Director of CEPOSS (Centre of Studies in Social Policy and Sociology of Health) (since 1983) and Chair Ph.D. in Sociology (since 1988) at the University of Bologna; Member of the National University Council, Ministry of University and Technological Research, Research Committee on Social and Political Sciences, 1987-95; Member of the National Committee on Population, Italian Ministry for Social Affairs, 1992-93; Member of the National Committee on the UNO International Year of the Family, Italian Ministry for Social Affairs, 1993-1994; Member of the National Committee on Bioethics, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Rome, 1994-1999; United Nations Organization acknowledgment as IYF PATRON for the International Year of the Family awarded by the Vienna Office (1994); Capri S. Michele Prize for the book "Pensiero Sociale Cristiano e Società Post-moderna" (1997); President of the Italian Sociological Association 1995-1998; Member of the Committee for the Cultural Project of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) years 2000-2008; Member of the National Italian Committee for UNESCO 1996-99; Founder and Editor of the Journal Sociology and Social Policy (University of Bologna); Councillor of the Board of the International Institute of Sociology 2000-2003; Director of the National Observatory on the Family (Italian Government) 2004-2007 and since 2009; Member of the Academy of Sciences of the University of Bologna (since 2007); San Benedetto Prize for the promotion of Life in Europe, IX edition (2009). Honoris causa Doctorate of the Pontifical Institute John Paul II for studies on marriage and family, Pontifical Lateran University (2009). Mario Macchi Prize 2009 given by the National Association of Catholic Schools' Parents (AGESC) for social and cultural activities of great innovative interest; Counsellor of the Pontifical Council for the Family (2009).
Summary of scientific research The main theme of my research has been the foundation of a new approach in social sciences called "relational sociology". I have developed a general theory (what I call the "relational theory of society") and carried out a number of empirical investigations in order to apply it to a variety of topics such as: family dynamics, citizenship, social policies, the welfare services, civil society, third sector or social-private spheres, the welfare state, relational goods, intergenerational equity, the sociology of genders, religion, and cultural change. My main concern has been to establish a scientific framework in which significant connections can be made between sociology as a science and Catholic social thought, both at the theoretical and empirical levels. Currently my main area of research concerns the sociological emergence of mediating structures of civil society in advanced countries and their interplay in what I call "societal citizenship", i.e. their role in defining an "after-modern" societal configuration. I am developing a critical look at what I call the "lib/lab complex" (or so called "third way") in the globalization process.
Main publications A selected list out of 650 titles. Books: Introduzione alla sociologia relazionale, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 1983; Teoria relazionale della società, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 1991; Manual de sociologia de la salud, Ediciones Diaz de Santos, Madrid, 1994; Pensiero sociale cristiano e società postmoderna, Ave, Roma, 1997; La cittadinanza societaria, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2000; Il lavoro che emerge. Prospettive del lavoro come relazione sociale in una economia dopo-moderna, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2001; La cultura civile in Italia: fra stato, mercato e privato sociale, il Mulino, Bologna, 2002; Manual de Sociología de la Familia, Eunsa, Pamplona, 2003; Sociologia delle politiche familiari, Carocci, Roma, 2003; Famiglia e capitale sociale nella società italiana, San Paolo, Cinisello, 2003; Repensar la sociedad. El enfoque relacional, EIU, Madrid, 2006; M.S. Archer and P. Donati (eds.), Pursuing the Common Good: How Solidarity and Subsidiarity Can Work Together, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Vatican Press, Rome, 2008; Família no século XXI: abordagem relacional, Paulinas, Sao Paulo, Brasil, 2008; Oltre il multiculturalismo. La ragione relazionale per un mondo comune, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2008; La società dell'umano, Marietti, Genova-Milano, 2009; La matrice teologica della società, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2010: Relational Sociology: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences, Routledge, London, 2010. Essays and articles: Die Zukunft des Sozialstaats: Kontinuitaeten und Diskontinuitaeten, Soziologisches Jahrbuch, Trient, a. 3, n. 2, 1987, pp. 171-94; Die Familie als soziale beziehung zwischen Öffentlichkeit und Privatheit: Jenseitz der Paradoxien, Soziologisches Jahrbuch, vol. 6, I, 1990; Different cultures, different citizenship? The challenge of a universal citizenship in a multicultural postmodern society, in The Annals of the International Institute of Sociology, New Series Volume V, 1996, pp. 245-63; The New Citizenship of the Family, in K. Matthijs (ed.), The Family. Contemporary Perspectives and Challenges, Leuven University Press, Leuven, 1998, pp. 243-61; Freedom versus Control in Post-Modern Society: A Relational Approach, in L. Tomasi (ed.), New Horizons in Sociological Theory and Research, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2001, pp. 147-177; Giving and Social Relations: The Culture of Free Giving and its Differentiation Today, International Review of Sociology, vol. 13, n. 2, 2003, pp. 243-72; Building a Relational Theory of Society: A Sociological Journey, in Mathieu Deflem (ed.), Sociologists in a Global Age. Biographical Perspectives, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007, pp. 159-74; Reflexivity after Modernity: From the Viewpoint of Relational Sociology, in M.S. Archer (ed.), Conversations About Reflexivity, Routledge, London and New York, 2010, pp. 144-64.