Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
SOCIOLOGY
The study of politics and society
POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
Political Sociology
The issues studied in this field include
the nature of power and the state
relations between state and society,
social movements, political
organization and
civic participation, political culture,
voting behavior, and citizenship.
STATE-CENTRIC APPROACH
Ancient monarchic and imperial regimes
The Greek polis and Athenian
democracy
The Feudal era
National monarchies
The republican age and nation-states
World divided by ideologies (World Wars
and Cold War)
Globalization
Ethnic identities
Gender
Age groups
State Theories
The State is the ultimate authority,
meaning that its authority stands
above all others.
However, individuals in civil society
also have control over the state, even
in non-democratic societies.
Two very different theories have
evolved to address the relationship
between the State and civil society:
Elite Theory:
Elections are important and do effect
changes in political structures.
Election victories often happen as the
result of mobilization of non-elites.
Theories of Social
Movements
Relative Deprivation Theory
Change occurs when people feel an
intolerable gap between what they think
they deserve and what they expect to
receive.
This gap is called relative deprivation.
Relative deprivation is very different from
poverty or absolute deprivation.
RDT has however been questioned because
leaders in social movements are usually not
deprived, relatively or otherwise.
Theories of Social
Movements
Resource-Mobilization Theory