EKONBENI TSANGLAO

Emergence of Political Sociology

mainly to the coming of behavioural revolution in politics and recognition of the usefulness of
interdisciplinary approach. Lipset and Runciman strongly advocated the view that political
sociology took birth in about the middle of 19h century when in the environment of Industrial
Revolution, the Traditional European Social Order began experiencing modernization. The
awareness about distinct Identities of society and state provided a ground for the birth of
Political Sociology However, most of the social scientists believe that the real birth and rapid
growth of Political Sociology took place in the middle of the 20" century, particularly after the
coming of the behavioural revolution in Political Science.

Main stages in the evolution of Political Sociology

1. the Classical Period - Even in ancient times, during the Greek and Roman times, man
was considered to be a social and political animal by several eminent political
philosopher like Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine and Aquinas. In his work The
Republic, Plato clearly wrote that the state performs the function of maintaining law.
order and justice in society. Likewise, the father of Political Science, Aristotle wrote in
his work "Politics' that family was the root from which the state had its origin. He
defined state as a community of families and village having for its end a happy,
prosperous and self-sufficient life. In the medieval period, St. Augustine also argued
that society was guided by the divine principal. The greatest thinkers of this period,
saint Thomas Aquinas observed that state was a natural institution which worked for
serving the earthly needs of the people of each society. he classified laws into four
classes; eternal, divine, natural and human, and explain their hierarchical relationship.
All these thinkers believed that "human identity" and destiny were directly tied to the
state or the church rather than to the evolutionary process of society. While in the
ancient period society and state were held to be one, in the medieval period the church
fathers held that state was a natural divine institution working for serving the material
needs of the people. They gave importance to church and explained the supremacy
church over the state. Church, state and society were studied in an interrelated manner,
but church was held to be superior most divine institution.
2. The Great Debate - we can refer to the great debate of the 16" and 17" centuries as the
second stage in the evolution of Political Sociology. This stage was marked by the great
debate between two sets of thinkers. One group of philosophers, which included great
thinkers like John Lock, Jean Jacques Rousseau and August Comte all made and
projected a distinction between the state and society. They gave primacy to society and
general will of the people over the state. Against it the second group of philosophers,
which included generally great thinkers like Hobbes, Burke and Hegel, who did not
make and accept any distinction between the state and society and advocated the
supreme and total control of the state over all aspects of life of the people.
3. The Strong Role of Elites in Society - The 17" century witnessed a decl1ne in the
institution of monarch and rise of powerful class of landlords. The feudal lords become
very powerful. They began using the political power in the state. Monarchy started
getting replaced by Aristocracy. The Royal Family, the class of major landlords, the
landed aristocracy, and the class of rich became very powerful classes. The society
witnessed the rise of elites. There evolved two types of elites. The first were the
traditional elites who viewed government as a closed, self-perpetuating political
organisation exercising the power of the state over the people. The other was the
democratic elites who had a more open and humanitarian view of the government and
politics.

Amidst all these, the 18" century American War of Independence leading to the rise of the
USA as a sovereign independent republic and the French Revolution reflecting the rise of
common people as the real power holder, brought into prominence the issue of role of the
people in the exercise of' power in each society. In the l9" century the process of
democratisation of politics in Britain and some other European states got underway and
this development greatly strengthen the focus on the issue of exercise of power in society.

4. the Contemporary period. - the 20" century opened as the age of democracy and
development but came to develop a violent conflict between democratic and
dictatorship states. The end of second world war highlighted the victory of democracy
over dictatorship. Post 1945 it witnessed the rapid march of behavioural revolution in
the study of politics.
5. Impact of Behavioural Revolution: Changes in the study of politics
In the 1940s, there began a deep dissatisfaction with the narrow scope of unscientific
method of traditional political science historical, philosophical and Legal-Institutional
methods turned into a revolution against it. A large number of political scientists,
particularly in the USA began advocating a rejection of traditional Political Science and
the need for building a new empirical and behavioural Science of politics. It advocated
the use of empirical and scientific methods in the study of human political behaviour in
each society. It fully recognized the importance and utility of interdisciplinary approach
in the study of Politics Several behavioural scholars advocated the use of knowledge
and concept of psychology, sociology and cultural Anthropology for the study of
Politics Arthur Bentley strongly advocated the study of group behaviour in politics.
In 1950s behaviouralism got transformed into post-Behaviouralism. The post-
behaviouralism now placed emphasis on making study of politics relevant to society
involving the study of brute realities of politics and social change, they advocated that
research and theory building in politics must be relevant to actual social conditions and
the actual realities of politics. The whole exercise was to be guided by the objective of
building a scientific theory of politics capable of explaining and analysing all aspects
of politics in particular, the new emphasis on the study of Power, Influence, Authority
and Legitimacy naturally led to attempts aimed at the study of their social roots or social
determinants and this became the central focus of Political Sociology.
The American political Scientist came forward to undertake empirical research on
various political Issue with a touch of sociology in it. As the research expanded, the
need for the study of politics in the social context came to be bigger and bigger. This
set the stage for the origin of political Sociology as a major sub-field of Politics. Indeed,
these few were the pioneering works on political sociology- Gardham Wallas - Human
Nature in Politics, David Truman - The Governmental Process, Charles Merriam - New
Aspects of Political, and Waller Lipmann - Public Opinion.