Political sociology

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Political sociology is the study of power and the intersection of personality, society and politics. Political sociology is interdisciplinary—where political science and sociology intersect. The founders of political sociology were Max Weber (Germany) and Moisey Ostrogorsky (Russia).

There are four main areas of research focus in contemporary political sociology:

1) The social formation of the modern state

2) "Who rules"?--that is, how social inequality between groups (classes, races, genders, etc.) affects politics

3) How the personality, social movements and trends outside of the formal institutions of political power affect politics, and

4) Power in small groups (e.g. families, workplaces).

The field also looks at how major social trends can affect the political process, as well as exploring how various social forces work together to change political policies. Political sociologists apply several theories to substantive issues. Each theory claims to be comprehensive, but actually has a few areas of strength because it was developed to address specific issues and operates at one levels of analysis.

Three major theorical frameworks are pluralism, elite or managerial theory and class analysis which overlaps which Marxist analysis. Pluralism sees politics primarily as a contest among competing interest groups. A leading representative is Robert Dahl. Elite managerial theory is sometimes called a state-centered approach. It explains what the state does by looking at constraints from organizational structure, semiautonomous state managers, and interests that arise from the state as a unique, power concentrating organization. A leading representative is Theda Skocpol. Class analysis emphasizes the political power of wealthy capitalists. It split into two parts: one is the power structure or instrumentalist approach, another is the structuralist approach. The power structure approach focuses on Who Rules? and its most well-known representative is G. William Domhoff. The structuralist approach emphasizes how the very way a capitalist economy operates only allows and encourages the state to do some things but not others. Its best known representative was Nicos Poulantzas.