[5] Together with Bryan Turner he also founded the book series Muslims in Global Societies with Ronald Lukens-Bull serving as an assistant editor.

His areas of interest further include identity and emotions, urban sociology, Muslim migration/immigration, criminology, fundamentalism, secularisation processes, ethnomusicology, and the relationship between anthropological research and cognitive neuroscience.

Marranci's current research focuses on young Malay Muslims (aged 12–25) and the issues that they may encounter in contemporary Singapore.

Based on participant observation and interviews with male and female residents of welfare homes, parents, educators and organizations, his topic investigates the exposure of young Malays to what he terms as ‘global social threats’ and also the effects of a widening generational gap in the context of the recent 2008-2009 economic crisis.

Using participant observation as a primary research methodology, Marranci conducted over 170[17] interviews with current and former Muslim prisoners and their families.

His research interests included cultural influences, religious modifications, the concept of ummah, children's education, Muslim associations, community organization, child-parent relationships, identity conflicts, and women.

[citation needed] His fieldwork centered on family roles, women's associations, diaspora, myth of return, private vs. public, female genital mutilation in immigration contexts and social relationships.

[citation needed] Between 1998 and 1999, Marranci conducted fieldwork in both Paris and Lyon with first and second-generation Algerian immigrants, focussing on the use of urban space, identity conflicts, cultural expressions, gender, transnationalism and local and global dimensions.