Overview

With an entire discipline devoted to political science, what is distinctive about political sociology? This concise book explains what a sociological perspective brings to our understanding of the emergence, reproduction, and transformation of different forms of political order. Crucially, political sociology expands the field of view to the politics that happen in other social settings – in the family, at work, in civic associations – as well as the ways in which social attributes such as class, religion, age, race, and gender shape patterns of political participation and the distribution of political power. Political sociology grapples with these issues across an enormous range of historical and geographic settings, from intimate to geo-political scales. It requires an analytic toolkit that includes concepts of power, identities and inequalities, social closure, civil society, and modes of political action. Using these central concepts, this updated edition of What is Political Sociology? discusses the major forms of political order, processes of regime formation and revolution, the social bases for political participation, policy formation as well as feedbacks, social movements and social change, and the possibilities for new forms of digital and transnational politics. In sum, the book offers an insightful introduction to this core perspective on social life.

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9781509561896

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Reviews

“This is a much needed and timely book written by an eminent political sociologist. Students and researchers at all levels will benefit from the crisp and illuminating discussion of topics that span the field of political sociology. It is likely to be an indispensable companion to those writing in these areas.” Manali Desai, University of Cambridge “Clemens does us the incalculable service of synthesizing a vast and contentious body of research. Ranging from classical theories of the nation-state and power to the newest scholarship on empire and colonialism, Clemens maps the terrain in our rearview mirror and points the way toward a new horizon. This book is an indispensable resource.” Cedric de Leon, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Author Information

Elisabeth S. Clemens is William Rainey Harper Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and the College at the University of Chicago.

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