Sociology of politics 2102-ANG-L-D3SOPO
The course's aim is to acquaint students with the issues related to the broadly conceived social bases of power and politics. The course will involve discussion of mostly classical texts in the area. Topics covered will include, among others, social origins of the state, nations and democratic institutions. Approaches such as Marxism, elitism and rational choice theory will be discussed.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Term 2024Z: | Term 2023Z: |
Learning outcomes
Understands the specificity of sociology and the notion of social facts
Knows Weber;s typology of power
Understands the bases of Marxism
Understands the bases of elitism
Understands the bases of rational choice theory
Understands origins of the modern state
Understands the social bases of democracy
Distinguishes between different types of electoral systems
Understands Duverger's laws
Distinguishes between different theories of electoral system choice
Understands the idea of varieties of capitalism
Understands the origins of nations and nationalism
Distinguishes core characteristics of fascism
Assessment criteria
Oral exam
Practical placement
None
Bibliography
Durkheim, E. (2014). The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its method. Simon and Schuster.
Jessop, B. (2004). Developments in Marxist theory. The Blackwell companion to political sociology, 7-16.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1967). The communist manifesto. 1848. Trans. Samuel Moore. London: Penguin, 15(10.1215), 9780822392583-049.
Bellamy, R. (2004). Developments in pluralist and elite approaches. The Blackwell companion to political sociology, 17-28.
Christensen, M. (2013). The social facts of democracy: science meets politics with Mosca, Pareto, Michels, and Schumpeter. Journal of Classical Sociology, 13(4), 460-486.
Schattschneider, E. E. (1948). Pressure groups versus political parties. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 259(1), 17-23.
Dowding, K. (2001). Rational choice approaches to analyzing power. The Blackwell companion to political sociology, 29.
Barth, F. (1959). Segmentary opposition and the theory of games: a study of Pathan organization. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 89(1), 5-21.
Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons: the population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality. science, 162(3859), 1243-1248.
Poggi, G. (2012). Theories of state formation. The Wiley‐Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, 93-106.
Strayer, J. R. (2005). On the medieval origins of the modern state. Princeton University Press.
Lipset, S. M. (1959). Some social requisites of democracy: Economic development and political legitimacy. American political science review, 53(1), 69-105.
Femia, J. V. (1972). Barrington Moore and the preconditions for democracy. British Journal of Political Science, 2(1), 21-46.
Duverger, M. (1959). Political parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state. Metheun & Co. Ltd..
Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. (2001). An introduction to varieties of capitalism. op. cit, 21
Cusack, T. R., Iversen, T., & Soskice, D. (2007). Economic interests and the origins of electoral systems. American Political Science Review, 101(3), 373-391.
Boix, C. (1999). Setting the rules of the game: the choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies. American political science review, 93(3), 609-624.
Gellner, E. (2015). Nations and nationalism. In Conflict after the Cold War (pp. 378-389). Routledge.
Mann, M. (2004). Fascists. Cambridge University Press.
Keim, W. (2021). Post‐Fascists: Putting the So‐Called “Populist Right” into Historical Perspective. Journal of Historical Sociology, 34(4), 604-623.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: