FROM THE SOCIOLOGY OF POLITICS TO POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

In: Government & opposition: an international journal of comparative politics, Band 4, Heft 2, S. 195-214

Abstract

How can we draw the dividing line between sociol & pol'al sci? Which is the pertinent confrontation between them? Where are we to search for the distinguishing traits? It would seem that: (i) pol'al sociol is often a misnomer, for what goes under its name is often a 'sociol'al reduction' of pot; (ii) a real pol'al sociol is a cross-disciplinary breakthrough seeking for enlarged models which reintroduce as variables the 'givens' of each component source; (iii) the technical sophistication of the res methods of the sociol'st is magnified & the poverty of his conceptual framework is obscured-compare the performance of the sociol'st in the field of pot with that of pol'al sci; (iv) the growth of a real pol'al sociol is hindered by objectivist superstitons & poor causal reasoning; (v) a complete picture requires a joint assessment of the extent to which instit's are dependent variables reflecting soc stratification & cleavages, &, vice versa, of the extent to which these cleavages reflect the channelling of a structured party system. It is an extra-ordinary paradox that the soc sci's should try to explain pot by going beyond pol-looking for the 'invisible hand.' Rather, the sociol'st should catch up with the hazardous uncertainties of pot. IPSA.