Ferruccio Biolcati
Biographic Data
| ID | 142132 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ferruccio Biolcati |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ferruccio |
| FAMILY NAME | Biolcati |
| SIGNATURE | BIOLCATI F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Milan |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6514-2526 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 103 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Losing Empathy With Assimilation
According to cultural assimilation theories, immigrants generally tend to adopt the values and attitudes of the native population, as seen in areas such as gender equality, religiosity, and trust. This study analyzes immigrants' attitudes toward immigrant groups using European Values Study data, finding strong evidence for cultural assimilation. Overall, immigrants initially exhibit more positive attitudes toward immigrants than natives, but thes…
Religious socialization and the changing role of women
Church Attendance and Religious change Pooled European dataset (Carpe)
Despite the long-lasting interest in religious change, debates on the topic have been heated and are still far from being settled. In order to provide a reliable data source through which to study these dynamics, the CARPE project harmonizes well-known international surveys containing items concerning religiosity (the ESS, Eurobarometer, EVS, ISSP and WVS). This makes it possible to broaden the available observation window, both across countries …
Religious Decline as a Population Dynamic
Nothing puzzles sociologists of religion more than the reasons and the patterns behind religious change. In the literature on secularization processes, it is broadly accepted that ongoing modernization has undermined many of the pillars of institutional religions, leading to widespread religious decline. While a considerable body of research investigates the “why(s)” of this decline, the main focus of this paper is on the “how.” Drawing on CARPE,…
Where does the Coronavirus come from? On the mechanisms underlying the endorsement of conspiracy theories on the origin of Sars-CoV-2
While official science has given its answer to the question on the origin of the Coronavirus (animal to human transmission), alternative theories on human creation of the virus – purposely or inadvertently – have flourished. Those alternative theories can be easily located among the family of conspiracy theories, as they always assume some secretive activity of some groups acting on their self-interest and against the good of the many. The articl…
The multifaceted relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration in contemporary Italy
When analyzing the relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration, empirical research often leads to contrasting findings. By focusing on contemporary Italy, our contribution aims to provide evidence of two opposite effects that religiosity can exert on attitudes toward immigration. On the one hand, belonging to a religious community is expected to reinforce a social identity, leading to negative attitudes toward out…
Is France exceptionally irreligious? A comparative test of the cohort replacement theory
Si les chercheurs ont souvent souligné le fait que la France est peut-être un pays exceptionnellement irréligieux, cette hypothèse n'a pas encore été testée avec des données longitudinales ; et les chercheurs n'ont pas non plus tenté d'expliquer cette prétendue irréligiosité. Le présent article tente de combler cette lacune de la littérature en comparant la France à d'autres pays catholiques d'Europe occidentale. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons l'e…
Searching for comfort in religion
The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the lives of many is indisputable. Among the possible strategies to cope with the feeling of insecurity that comes with this, religion can play a significant role. Using first-hand data from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 rolling cross-section survey, this article shows that Italian people who reported a COVID-19 contagion in their family reported also higher religiosity both in terms of attendance at religious…
Public acceptability of containment measures during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
Purpose This article contributes to a better theoretical and empiric understanding of mixed results in the literature investigating the relationship between institutional confidence and adherence to recommended measures during a pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The article relies on structural equation models (SEMs) based on data from ResPOnsE COVID-19, a rolling cross-section (RCS) survey carried out in Italy from April to June 2020. Findin…
Calibrating self-reported church attendance questions in online surveys. Experimental evidence from the Italian context
Despite widespread use in survey research, the accuracy and validity of self-reported church attendance questions have often been debated. Since the seminal article by Hadaway et al. (1993), that this indicator leads to an overestimation of the number of regular churchgoers has entered common knowledge. However, no systematic work to improve the understanding and command of the measurement instrument has been carried out. This contribution analys…
La survey tra crisi e innovazione
The paper analyzes the main methodological innovations of the survey research, within the context of its historical development. Referring to the histori-cal summary proposed by Groves in 2011, three eras of research surveys – the origins, the expansion and the challenges coming from the so-called organic data – are reviewed. The article illustrates the main directions of innovation, both those within research design (Web survey, mixed modes, sur…
Shifts in religiosity across cohorts in Europe
Religious change continues to be a controversial topic that involves both theoretical and methodological issues. As to the European context, the main dispute is between secularization and individualization theory, especially considering the ‘believing without belonging’ thesis. This article will tackle this dispute given these three choices: firstly, we assume that cohort replacement is the main driver of religious change; secondly, religious tra…
Church Attendance and Religious Change in Italy, 1968-2010
The debate over religious change in Italy is far from having reached unanimous conclusions: some scholars point to an unbroken trend toward a decrease of religiosity, while others highlight the signs of a religious revival, especially in younger generations. Besides difficulties with definitions, different conclusions are also due to a lack of information over a sufficiently long period of time. This problem is tackled here by developing a pooled…
Individualisation and Poverty Over Time
In the last few years, much sociological debate has focused on individualisation theory, especially on Beck's risk society version. According to this theory, contemporary social change can be interpreted as the progressive weakening of the influence of social structures on individual behaviour. Individualisation theory has been adopted in many fields of study (voting behaviour, consumption behaviour, etc.). Although much of the debate has a theor…
Searching for comfort in religion
The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the lives of many is indisputable. Among the possible strategies to cope with the feeling of insecurity that comes with this, religion can play a significant role. Using first-hand data from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 rolling cross-section survey, this article shows that Italian people who reported a COVID-19 contagion in their family reported also higher religiosity both in terms of attendance at religious…
Shifts in religiosity across cohorts in Europe
Religious change continues to be a controversial topic that involves both theoretical and methodological issues. As to the European context, the main dispute is between secularization and individualization theory, especially considering the ‘believing without belonging’ thesis. This article will tackle this dispute given these three choices: firstly, we assume that cohort replacement is the main driver of religious change; secondly, religious tra…
Church Attendance and Religious Change in Italy, 1968-2010
The debate over religious change in Italy is far from having reached unanimous conclusions: some scholars point to an unbroken trend toward a decrease of religiosity, while others highlight the signs of a religious revival, especially in younger generations. Besides difficulties with definitions, different conclusions are also due to a lack of information over a sufficiently long period of time. This problem is tackled here by developing a pooled…
Religious Decline as a Population Dynamic
Nothing puzzles sociologists of religion more than the reasons and the patterns behind religious change. In the literature on secularization processes, it is broadly accepted that ongoing modernization has undermined many of the pillars of institutional religions, leading to widespread religious decline. While a considerable body of research investigates the “why(s)” of this decline, the main focus of this paper is on the “how.” Drawing on CARPE,…
Where does the Coronavirus come from? On the mechanisms underlying the endorsement of conspiracy theories on the origin of Sars-CoV-2
While official science has given its answer to the question on the origin of the Coronavirus (animal to human transmission), alternative theories on human creation of the virus – purposely or inadvertently – have flourished. Those alternative theories can be easily located among the family of conspiracy theories, as they always assume some secretive activity of some groups acting on their self-interest and against the good of the many. The articl…
Is France exceptionally irreligious? A comparative test of the cohort replacement theory
Si les chercheurs ont souvent souligné le fait que la France est peut-être un pays exceptionnellement irréligieux, cette hypothèse n'a pas encore été testée avec des données longitudinales ; et les chercheurs n'ont pas non plus tenté d'expliquer cette prétendue irréligiosité. Le présent article tente de combler cette lacune de la littérature en comparant la France à d'autres pays catholiques d'Europe occidentale. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons l'e…
The multifaceted relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration in contemporary Italy
When analyzing the relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration, empirical research often leads to contrasting findings. By focusing on contemporary Italy, our contribution aims to provide evidence of two opposite effects that religiosity can exert on attitudes toward immigration. On the one hand, belonging to a religious community is expected to reinforce a social identity, leading to negative attitudes toward out…
Public acceptability of containment measures during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
Purpose This article contributes to a better theoretical and empiric understanding of mixed results in the literature investigating the relationship between institutional confidence and adherence to recommended measures during a pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The article relies on structural equation models (SEMs) based on data from ResPOnsE COVID-19, a rolling cross-section (RCS) survey carried out in Italy from April to June 2020. Findin…
Individualisation and Poverty Over Time
In the last few years, much sociological debate has focused on individualisation theory, especially on Beck's risk society version. According to this theory, contemporary social change can be interpreted as the progressive weakening of the influence of social structures on individual behaviour. Individualisation theory has been adopted in many fields of study (voting behaviour, consumption behaviour, etc.). Although much of the debate has a theor…
Church Attendance and Religious Change in Italy, 1968-2010
The debate over religious change in Italy is far from having reached unanimous conclusions: some scholars point to an unbroken trend toward a decrease of religiosity, while others highlight the signs of a religious revival, especially in younger generations. Besides difficulties with definitions, different conclusions are also due to a lack of information over a sufficiently long period of time. This problem is tackled here by developing a pooled…
La survey tra crisi e innovazione
The paper analyzes the main methodological innovations of the survey research, within the context of its historical development. Referring to the histori-cal summary proposed by Groves in 2011, three eras of research surveys – the origins, the expansion and the challenges coming from the so-called organic data – are reviewed. The article illustrates the main directions of innovation, both those within research design (Web survey, mixed modes, sur…
Shifts in religiosity across cohorts in Europe
Religious change continues to be a controversial topic that involves both theoretical and methodological issues. As to the European context, the main dispute is between secularization and individualization theory, especially considering the ‘believing without belonging’ thesis. This article will tackle this dispute given these three choices: firstly, we assume that cohort replacement is the main driver of religious change; secondly, religious tra…
Calibrating self-reported church attendance questions in online surveys. Experimental evidence from the Italian context
Despite widespread use in survey research, the accuracy and validity of self-reported church attendance questions have often been debated. Since the seminal article by Hadaway et al. (1993), that this indicator leads to an overestimation of the number of regular churchgoers has entered common knowledge. However, no systematic work to improve the understanding and command of the measurement instrument has been carried out. This contribution analys…
Searching for comfort in religion
The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the lives of many is indisputable. Among the possible strategies to cope with the feeling of insecurity that comes with this, religion can play a significant role. Using first-hand data from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 rolling cross-section survey, this article shows that Italian people who reported a COVID-19 contagion in their family reported also higher religiosity both in terms of attendance at religious…
Public acceptability of containment measures during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
Purpose This article contributes to a better theoretical and empiric understanding of mixed results in the literature investigating the relationship between institutional confidence and adherence to recommended measures during a pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The article relies on structural equation models (SEMs) based on data from ResPOnsE COVID-19, a rolling cross-section (RCS) survey carried out in Italy from April to June 2020. Findin…
The multifaceted relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration in contemporary Italy
When analyzing the relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration, empirical research often leads to contrasting findings. By focusing on contemporary Italy, our contribution aims to provide evidence of two opposite effects that religiosity can exert on attitudes toward immigration. On the one hand, belonging to a religious community is expected to reinforce a social identity, leading to negative attitudes toward out…
Is France exceptionally irreligious? A comparative test of the cohort replacement theory
Si les chercheurs ont souvent souligné le fait que la France est peut-être un pays exceptionnellement irréligieux, cette hypothèse n'a pas encore été testée avec des données longitudinales ; et les chercheurs n'ont pas non plus tenté d'expliquer cette prétendue irréligiosité. Le présent article tente de combler cette lacune de la littérature en comparant la France à d'autres pays catholiques d'Europe occidentale. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons l'e…
Church Attendance and Religious change Pooled European dataset (Carpe)
Despite the long-lasting interest in religious change, debates on the topic have been heated and are still far from being settled. In order to provide a reliable data source through which to study these dynamics, the CARPE project harmonizes well-known international surveys containing items concerning religiosity (the ESS, Eurobarometer, EVS, ISSP and WVS). This makes it possible to broaden the available observation window, both across countries …
Religious Decline as a Population Dynamic
Nothing puzzles sociologists of religion more than the reasons and the patterns behind religious change. In the literature on secularization processes, it is broadly accepted that ongoing modernization has undermined many of the pillars of institutional religions, leading to widespread religious decline. While a considerable body of research investigates the “why(s)” of this decline, the main focus of this paper is on the “how.” Drawing on CARPE,…
Where does the Coronavirus come from? On the mechanisms underlying the endorsement of conspiracy theories on the origin of Sars-CoV-2
While official science has given its answer to the question on the origin of the Coronavirus (animal to human transmission), alternative theories on human creation of the virus – purposely or inadvertently – have flourished. Those alternative theories can be easily located among the family of conspiracy theories, as they always assume some secretive activity of some groups acting on their self-interest and against the good of the many. The articl…
Losing Empathy With Assimilation
According to cultural assimilation theories, immigrants generally tend to adopt the values and attitudes of the native population, as seen in areas such as gender equality, religiosity, and trust. This study analyzes immigrants' attitudes toward immigrant groups using European Values Study data, finding strong evidence for cultural assimilation. Overall, immigrants initially exhibit more positive attitudes toward immigrants than natives, but thes…
Religious socialization and the changing role of women
Political science (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (7 works) · Religiosity (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Attendance (6 works) · Economics (6 works)