Party and Society

Beschreibung

Political parties are central to democratic life, yet there is no standard definition to describe them or the role they occupy. "Voter-centered" theoretical approaches suggest that parties are the mere recipients of voter interests and loyalties. "Party-centered" approaches, by contrast, envision parties that polarize, democratize, or dominate society. In addition to offering isolated and competing notions of democratic politics, such approaches are also silent on the role of the state and are unable to account for organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the African National Congress, which exhibit characteristics of parties, states, and social movements simultaneously. In this timely book, Cedric de Leon examines the ways in which social scientists and other observers have imagined the relationship between parties and society. He introduces and critiques the full range of approaches, using enlivening comparative examples from across the globe. Cutting through a vast body of research, de Leon offers a succinct and lively analysis that outlines the key thinking in the field, placing it in historical and contemporary context. The resulting book will appeal to students of sociology, political science, social psychology, and related fields.

Autor*in

Cedric de Leon

Themen in »Party and Society«

Democratic Systems Demokratie Demokratische Systeme Political Issues & Behavior Political Science Political Sociology Politikwissenschaft Politische Fragen u. politisches Verhalten Politische Soziologie Sociology Soziologie

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"This creative, well-organized, and well-written book is going tomake important contributions to not only the analysis of partiesbut to the social sciences in general. Party & Societyblends in-depth coverage of the field, criticism, and originalargumentation. Students and experts fortunate enough to read thisbook will get a fuller sense of party politics than they ever hadbefore." Cihan Tudal, University of California, Berkeley "Party & Society is a map and a brief. It offers amuch-needed guide to the plethora of classical and contemporaryperspectives on political parties in both sociology and politicalscience. But it also adds up to an important argument: ifsociologically minded students of parties wish to present a robustalternative to 'voter-centered approaches' in accounting for theobservable complexities of political life, they would do well totake seriously the idea that parties are by turns cause andconsequence of states and societies. This book should be requiredreading for all political sociologists." Anthony S. Chen, Northwestern University
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