Abstract

This article focuses on the development of Italian sociological studies in the field of industrial work in the 1950s. In its early stage, this process was extremely fragmented and surrounded by academic distrust. The European Agency for Productivity was the coordinating authority for propaganda and diffusion of these new ideas. Italian sociology pathfinders professors Agostino Gemelli of the Università Cattolica of Milan and former fascist party member Camillo Pellizzi of the University of Florence tried to transfer these ideas from overseas to the Italian cultural and social framework. The Italian trade unions as well were deeply engaged in sociological studies of industrial work. Catholic-oriented union Cisl actively promoted human relations propaganda. Despite its wariness of sociology, communist union Cgil analysed factories changes and workers' condition by using sociological surveys tools.