Political Sociology in the United States: A Case Study of Theoretical Change and Continuity

Abstract

Political sociology is viewed as an interdisciplinary hybrid rather than as a subfield of sociology. Nevertheless, some of the basic features of research in political sociology conducted in the United States are those characteristic of American sociology in general. American political sociology has emphasized social-psychological research and has focused on the conditions of the stability of Western political democracies. These and certain other related orientations have handicapped the analysis of protest, violence, change and the political development of non-industrial societies.

Confronted by the spectre of worldwide vehement political protest, conflict and change, political sociology seems likely to develop new paradigms to deal with such phenomena. Such paradigms may direct greater attention to the works of anthropologists, economists and traditional political scientists. The paradoxical result would be that American political sociology would appear to become increasingly interdisciplinary while actually establishing itself more firmly within the intellectual tradition within which Western sociology originated.

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