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Definition
Political sociology is far from enjoying a fixed, univocal definition. Not only are political sociologists using the most varied approaches in their analyses, but also they often outline the field with very diffuse boundaries. In broad terms, however, political sociology should be understood as “the social bases of politics.” In other words, political sociology avoids conceiving the pacts, tensions, and negotiations between political agents in a vacuum. Instead it sees those agents as closely interconnected with social institutions (i.e., education, family, religion, and others) (Orum 1978). Social movements, democracy, elite circulation, and clientelism have been fields of study traditionally addressed by political sociologists.
Additionally, current political sociology should be conceived as a tension between two broad approaches. Firstly, a traditional approach sees politics from a more...
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Escoffier, S. (2018). Political Sociology in Latin America. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3329-1
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