This chapter surveys the emergence of the major structural cleavage around which Italian sociology developed in the 1970s: the grouping of sociologists as two loosely defined "Catholic" and "lay" camps. The first group coalesced around Achille Ardigò , while the lay camp assumed a more polycentric , fragmented pattern. Membership would influence almost every aspect of a sociologist's scholarly and academic career. In time, the camps grew increasingly self-referential and hindered the emergence of a true scientific community among Italian sociologists. The chapter also follows the estrangement of Franco Ferrarotti from his colleagues and the emergence of a third camp composed of Roman and Southern sociologists. It ends with an interpretation of the process leading to the foundation of the Associazione italiana di sociologia , established in 1982.