[1] It is a bilingual (French/English) organization, which plays an important role in fostering international contacts between sociologists of religion, mainly through biennial conferences held in various countries.
It publishes papers from these conferences as special issues of the journal Social Compass, on whose editorial board the association's past president plays a role.
[3] Past presidents of the society include James A. Beckford, Karel Dobbelaere, Bryan R. Wilson, Enzo Pace, and Jean-Paul Willaime.
[5] As of the early 1960s, many participants were Jesuit academics, mostly from Italy, Belgium, Spain and France, with a smaller number from outside of Western Europe.
The organization dropped its religious affiliation at its 10th conference in 1969, and two years later revised its statutes to emphasize its scientific mission.