About the ISSR

• The International Society for the Sociology of Religion aims to advance knowledge in the sociology of religion and in all the related fields of the social sciences. 

• It is dedicated to fostering intellectual exchange between scholars from around the world. For over 50 years, the Society has provided a congenial venue for scholars to meet and discuss their work. 

• The Society holds bilingual (French & English) conferences every two years, to which all are welcome.

• The ISSR was founded in Leuven, Belgium in 1948 as the "Conférence Internationale de Sociologie Religieuse" (International Conference for Religious Sociology). Over the years, our focus has moved beyond church structure to the study of the role of religion in society at large.

• The ISSR has held 25 conferences over the years, most recently in Budapest (1993), Quebec (1995), Toulouse (1997), and Leuven (1999), and Ixtapan de la Sal, México (2001). Our next conference will take place in Turin, Italy  in late July, 2003.

• The ISSR publishes a twice-yearly bulletin in French and English. 

• It also fills one issue of Social Compass annually with papers from its biennial conference. Under the Society's aegis, member scholars have undertaken several cross-national studies of religious values, religion's role in various societies, etc., which have resulted in numerous books in several languages.

• The ISSR publishes a Who's Who of its membership, available on this web site.

The General Secretariat

The SISR General Secretary  is Karel Dobbelaere, Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

• His postal address is:

  • General Secretariat ISSR
    Department of Sociology
    Van Evenstraat 2B
    B-3000 Leuven
    Belgium

• Send an e-mail to: karel.dobbelaere@soc.kuleuven.ac.be