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

Dimensions of Delegation and Domination

Isaac Ariail Reed

in Power in Modernity: Agency Relations and the Creative Destruction of the King's Two Bodies

This chapter argues that power has four dimensions—material, relational, discursive, and performative—and addresses the first three. The goal is to unpack how hierarchical ties between rector and ... More

This chapter argues that power has four dimensions—material, relational, discursive, and performative—and addresses the first three. The goal is to unpack how hierarchical ties between rector and actor are formed and how the "negative tie" between the rector-actor dyad and other is forged. The work of Alfred Gell is reconstructed as an ideal way to theorize materiality in the making and unmaking of social relations. Gell's work is contrasted with Actor Network Theory. For understanding relational power, it examines closely the work of John Levi Martin, and, for discursive power, considers Michel Foucault and Jeffrey C. Alexander. For a synthesis of material, relational and discursive power, it considers a key text by Chandra Mukerji. Throughout, the goal of the chapter is to develop these dimensions in relationship to the fundamental problematic of delegation and domination. In this way, sociological theories of power are used to articulate how actors become agents of rectors and how others are excluded. This focus is contrasted to theories of power in society that emphasize differentiation of spheres or zones of activity, such as field theory. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the "mechanization of the world," and an excursus on power and violence.Less

Rector, Actor, Other

Isaac Ariail Reed

in Power in Modernity: Agency Relations and the Creative Destruction of the King's Two Bodies

This chapter develops the language of rector, actor, and other, and of "persons with projects" to work toward a new theory of power. It does so in dialogue with pragmatist theories of action and the ... More

This chapter develops the language of rector, actor, and other, and of "persons with projects" to work toward a new theory of power. It does so in dialogue with pragmatist theories of action and the theories of Orlando Patterson, Rene Girard, James Coleman, Judith Butler, and G.W.F. Hegel. In hierarchical relations, a figure is elevated to a superior position with enhanced capacity, and to such a figure discretion accrues. This is the person or group who rules, and rule enables the accomplishment of projects. Such mastery—which accrues to rectors—is dependent upon allies and subordinates (actors, who become agents) to whom tasks are delegated and from whom knowledge and expertise are gained, advice is taken, profits are stolen, and value is extracted. Power is dependent on its dependents, and an agent both stands in for, and works on behalf of, the rector. Actor becomes an agent by abdicating, in part, actor's own projects. If actor is an ally to rector, other stands outside the project, profaned. The radical uncertainty that other represents to rector and actor can become an synecdoche for the uncertainty of the world itself. There are four types of extreme alterity: enemy in war, slavery, invisibility, and scapegoat.Less

Within and without the King’s Two Bodies in London and Paris

Isaac Ariail Reed

in Power in Modernity: Agency Relations and the Creative Destruction of the King's Two Bodies

Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies reconstructed the origins and dynamics of a key piece of European political culture, according to which signs of state and signs of church were mixed ... More

Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies reconstructed the origins and dynamics of a key piece of European political culture, according to which signs of state and signs of church were mixed together so as to shore up agency problems—that is, to construct a regime of delegation and domination. It is in these terms that two iconic moments in the history of political culture can be reconsidered: Thomas Hobbes' reaction to the English Civil War in Leviathan and the trial of King Louis XVI during the French Revolution. In these moments, the problem of how to do politics when the King's Two Bodies is no longer part of the easily accepted background of political life comes into the foreground. In these moments, the problem of who is in and who is out of the people becomes central to discursive power. Via the revolution in Saint Domingue, the extension of citizenship to non-whites recast the debates over the "body politic" in Paris between 1790 and 1794. More broadly, as popular sovereignty came to replace divine Kingship as the cultural basis of decision-making and hierarchy, who counted as a person became the central political question of the age.Less

Introduction to Part II

Isaac Ariail Reed

in Power in Modernity: Agency Relations and the Creative Destruction of the King's Two Bodies

The introduction to part II of Power in Modernity introduces the problematic of modernity—or, to be more specific, transitions to modernity in the Atlantic world—to the analysis. In studying ... More

The introduction to part II of Power in Modernity introduces the problematic of modernity—or, to be more specific, transitions to modernity in the Atlantic world—to the analysis. In studying modernity, a useful conceptual method is to examine revolt and rebellion; when power formations falter and violence breaks out, then we see the articulation of the underlying cognitive, moral, and aesthetic orders that render politics possible. It is also possible that we will see therein new formats of politics performed into being. In moments of revolt—trouble at the edge of empire—the imagination of the state and the logistics of the state's operation come together and co-illuminate each other in the urgency of circumstances. In other words, liminality reveals regime. Conceptual points of focus for building the historical interpretations that follow include: examining the nexus of violence and alliance in the making of politics; tracing signs across zones of activity; being aware that, during crisis, emic philosophies or right explode into speech and writing, and that, amidst revolt and uncertainty, everyone is a political philosopher; and utilizing the rector-actor-other vocabulary so that it allows us to see that the politics of representation admits not only struggle and strategy, but also fantasy.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