Search Results

Political Behavior: An Overview

Edward G. Carmines and Robert Huckfeldt

in A New Handbook of Political Science

Provides an overview of the ways political scientists have explained political behaviour. Traces the development of approaches from the early electoral studies to economic models, to combinations of ... More

Provides an overview of the ways political scientists have explained political behaviour. Traces the development of approaches from the early electoral studies to economic models, to combinations of context and political agency in a political sociological response, and finally to a return to the individual voter in the form of political psychology. The politics of race is discussed as an example of the interaction of individual and social effects, representing the direction in which the broader political behaviour sub‐discipline is heading.Less

On Studying Governments

Rudy B. Andeweg

in Governing Europe

This chapter gives an overview of approaches to the study of governments, building explicitly on the work of A. King (1975) and C. Campbell (1993), who, respectively, offered three research themes ... More

This chapter gives an overview of approaches to the study of governments, building explicitly on the work of A. King (1975) and C. Campbell (1993), who, respectively, offered three research themes (composition, internal dynamics and external relations) and three theoretical perspectives (institutionalism, rational choice and political sociology/psychology). Each of the three research themes is discussed separately, using examples that illustrate the theoretical perspectives: under ‘composition’, the examples are coalition formation (rational choice) and recruitment/motivation (political sociology/psychology); under ‘internal dynamics’, the examples are prime–ministerial v. cabinet government (institutionalism) and political roles/groupthink (political sociology/psychology); and under ‘external relations’, the examples are executive–legislative relations (institutionalism) and control over bureaucracy (rational choice). The last section of the chapter compares the three theoretical approaches.Less

The Concept of the State in American History

William J. Novak

in Boundaries of the State In Us History

This chapter draws attention to the vital role of interdisciplinary perspectives in law, history, sociology, and political science in redirecting our understanding of the origins, development, and ... More

This chapter draws attention to the vital role of interdisciplinary perspectives in law, history, sociology, and political science in redirecting our understanding of the origins, development, and nature of the American state. It highlights the particularly formative role of an emerging theoretical literature concerning the character of statecraft in modern democratic regimes. The paper begins with an acknowledgment of the difficulty of the state concept as articulated in the diverse contributions of American history, political sociology, and American Political Development. It goes on to question the predominance of the essentially bureaucratic and Weberian model of the state that has governed thinking about and controlled discussion of the American state for the last two generations. It concludes by using the interdisciplinary perspectives that have recently emerged in socio-legal studies in the United States to generate an alternative approach to American state development that takes account of the nature of democratic rule as well as the fungibility of the state/society boundary.Less

Conclusion: The Past and Future of Political Sociology

Stefan Svallfors

in The Political Sociology of the Welfare State: Institutions, Social Cleavages, and Orientations

This concluding chapter analyzes the results presented in the book in relation to the development of political sociology. It argues that the papers together represent a “fourth generation” of ... More

This concluding chapter analyzes the results presented in the book in relation to the development of political sociology. It argues that the papers together represent a “fourth generation” of scholarship in the field, where institutional feedback effects in general, and public policies in particular, are analyzed in a comparative perspective. Political sociology was born in the 1940s in New York City, at Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, under the intellectual leadership of Paul Lazarsfeld. The “Columbia School” and Lazarsfeld made important contributions to the development of research in the field of political sociology. In particular, Lazarsfeld pioneered the analysis of latent structures, while the Columbia School made the first rigorous and systematic attempts to analyze the social factors that influence voting and espoused a “social determinism” in the study of political behavior, for which it came under contemporary criticism. Aside from feedback effects of institutions, other concepts such as public policies and the moral economy of welfare states have improved the conceptualization of the relation between social cleavages, political orientations, and institutions.Less

No There There: Social Movements and Urban Political Community

Chris Rhomberg

in No There There: Race, Class, and Political Community in Oakland

In the early 1920s, a powerful Ku Klux Klan movement burst forth in many American cities, targeting immigrant Jews and Catholics and people of color and attracting an estimated four to six million ... More

In the early 1920s, a powerful Ku Klux Klan movement burst forth in many American cities, targeting immigrant Jews and Catholics and people of color and attracting an estimated four to six million members. This book uses an explanatory framework built on three basic analytic dimensions: socioeconomic structure, institutional politics, and urban civil society. It introduces concepts drawn from three corresponding, well-known paradigms in sociology and political science: traditional political sociology; the “new institutionalism”; and social movement theory. Furthermore, it provides a case study of three social movements in Oakland, from the point of view of urban political development in twentieth-century America. The focus is on the struggles of groups and actors to forge a political solidarity and community in an urban context. An overview of the chapters included in this book is finally presented.Less

Key Concepts, Measures, and Data

Jason Beckfield

in Political Sociology and the People's Health

In this chapter, the author discusses several concepts, measures, and datasets that open new avenues for social epidemiologists to use political sociology to explain the distribution of population ... More

In this chapter, the author discusses several concepts, measures, and datasets that open new avenues for social epidemiologists to use political sociology to explain the distribution of population health. He also describes how social epidemiological concepts can feed back into political sociology to advance its agenda of understanding the social organization of power. Three themes integrate the concerns of these still-disconnected fields: (1) conceptualization of etiologic period, (2) definition of population, and (3) distinction between population averages and population variances. Mutual appreciation of the key concepts for each field is essential for the development of synthetic engagement between political sociology and social epidemiology.Less

Introduction

Stefan Svallfors

in The Political Sociology of the Welfare State: Institutions, Social Cleavages, and Orientations

Political sociologists study the link between social and political life, primarily by understanding variations in the relationship between social structure, political orientations, and political ... More

Political sociologists study the link between social and political life, primarily by understanding variations in the relationship between social structure, political orientations, and political action, and by explaining the patterns that arise. Political sociology thus encompasses issues ranging from the orientations and action patterns of mass publics, the rise and fall of political parties, and the development and effects of political institutions. This book explores variations and mechanisms underlying the interrelationships among political institutions, social cleavages, and orientations among citizens in advanced industrial societies. It documents changes in welfare states and decision-making arrangements, along with variations of and mechanisms behind individual-level political orientations and identity formation. The chapter outlines the current main patterns of change in welfare states and decision-making structures, and presents the book's conceptual framework of analysis, including key concepts such as political articulation, moral economy, orientations, social cleavages, institutional feedback effects, and institutions.Less

Ideology, Terror, and the “Mysterious Margin”: Raymond Aron versus Hannah Arendt

in Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism, and the Social Sciences

Raymond Aron believed that the principal axis of division between totalitarianism and constitutional pluralism lay in the role of the political party. Hannah Arendt, by contrast, had little to say ... More

Raymond Aron believed that the principal axis of division between totalitarianism and constitutional pluralism lay in the role of the political party. Hannah Arendt, by contrast, had little to say about political parties, unless it was to contrast them invidiously with the spontaneous participation of revolutionary councils. Where Arendt saw unprecedented events, Aron stressed the dynamic between continuity and “mutation,” social logic and chance, necessity and accident, process and drama. This chapter suggests that Aron offers a subtle, sober, and logical account of totalitarianism in which the tools of political sociology are employed to impressive effect, and does not deny the reality of the political.Less

On Weber

Christopher Adair-Toteff

in Raymond Aron's Philosophy of Political Responsibility: Freedom, Democracy and National Identity

This chapter explores Aron’s own use of Weber’s theoretical and political thinking. It begins by an exploration of Aron’s early understanding of Weber’s sociology and moves to his appropriation of ... More

This chapter explores Aron’s own use of Weber’s theoretical and political thinking. It begins by an exploration of Aron’s early understanding of Weber’s sociology and moves to his appropriation of Weber’s political philosophy. It concludes by suggesting that Aron’ rejected Weber’s nationalism but promoted a political ethics similar to Max Weber’s concept of political responsibilityLess

Toward a Political Sociology of Urban Marginality

Javier Auyero and María Fernanda Berti

in In Harm's Way: The Dynamics of Urban Violence

This book has examined how violence dislocates individuals' lives and disrupts the collective life of Arquitecto Tucci. It has also identified economic and political forces at the root of the ... More

This book has examined how violence dislocates individuals' lives and disrupts the collective life of Arquitecto Tucci. It has also identified economic and political forces at the root of the whirlpool of violence that wreaks havoc in Tucci's daily life. This conclusion summarizes the book's main findings and proposes a political sociology of urban marginality by highlighting parallels and convergences with other territories of urban relegation in the Americas. It argues that, to make better sense of concatenated violence—and the individual and collective actions it generates—it is necessary to pay attention to state actions and inactions, such as police brutality, police participation in crime (such as the drug trade), and the almost total (and patriarchal) institutional disregard for—and occasional complicity with—domestic and sexual violence.Less

Introduction

Andreas Schedler

in The Politics of Uncertainty: Sustaining and Subverting Electoral Authoritarianism

Electoral authoritarian regimes hold regular multiparty elections subject to severe and systematic manipulation. The Politics of Uncertainty analyzes their distinctive internal dynamics. ... More

Electoral authoritarian regimes hold regular multiparty elections subject to severe and systematic manipulation. The Politics of Uncertainty analyzes their distinctive internal dynamics. Theoretically as well as empirically, it studies regime struggles between government and opposition under electoral authoritarian conditions. After tracing the global expansion of electoral authoritarianism since the end of the Cold War, the introductory chapter distinguishes between various perspectives on authoritarian elections. While some authors comprehend them as adornments and others as simple authoritarian instruments, this book conceives them as arenas of asymmetric conflict whose outcomes are contingent, dependent on the dynamics of conflict between government and opposition. The introduction describes this actor and election-centered approach as an instance of “political institutionalism” and situates it within the comparative literature on authoritarian regime dynamics.Less

Uncertain Science and the Fight for Environmental Health

Alissa Cordner

in Toxic Safety: "Flame Retardants, Chemical Controversies, and Environmental Health"

The Introduction describes the contested arena of environmental health controversies, and summarizing the existing social science literature on environmental risks and scientific uncertainty

Introduction: Governing Europe’s spaces: European Union re-imagined

Caitríona Carter, Richard Freeman, and Martin Lawn

in Governing Europe's spaces: European Union re-imagined

What do we imagine when we imagine Europe and the European Union? What unacknowledged assumptions do we hold? This Introduction argues that, for a long time, EU studies has been dominated by ... More

What do we imagine when we imagine Europe and the European Union? What unacknowledged assumptions do we hold? This Introduction argues that, for a long time, EU studies has been dominated by discussions in which ‘the EU’ is consistently treated as an object: supranational, intergovernmental, multi-level, monotopia. Yet, theoretical debates over which image is ‘correct’, although important, are nonetheless camouflaging a more fundamental divide about how we can and should imagine Europe. And this is an ontological divide. Indeed, we argue that it is only through identifying this ontological divide that scholarship is enabled – if it so desires – to move away from imagining Europe as an object and think of Europe differently. We explain why we focus on ontology and set out our own starting point. Critically, rather than beginning by assuming the EU to be supranational or intergovernmental or some hybrid organisation, we instead start out by making inclusive assumptions about its causal structures. These are process-orientated, collectivist and interpretivist assumptions enabling us to re-imagine Europe as a space of action. We elaborate our concept of space –physical, symbolic, peopled, bordered, multiple and routinised – and ask where are these spaces of Europe and what goes on in them?Less