SOC612 Official Handouts

Lesson 01 · INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY · TOPICS 001-005 · Topic 001 Introduction to Political Sociology

Political sociology is relatively new field emerged in social sciences. Its existence and realization of its subject matters dates back to Greek philosophers but its importance as a separate field of study emerged in 19th and 20th centuries. Moreover, the decade after WW2 produced such writings and philosophers which directly touched and addressed subject matters of political sociology (Alexander M. Hicks et al). It includes the Political Man (1960) by Seymour Martin Lip set, Who Rules America (1967) by William G. Dom Hoff and The Strategy of Social Protest (1975) by William Gamson and many more to mention here. All these writings and advancements in field of Politics were focusing on the social basis of power/politics that how social basis have influence over political structures and their outcomes. Hence it gave birth to a new field of study known as Political Sociology.

Topic 002 Meaning and Dimensions of Political Sociology

It becomes evident now, that political sociology deals with the social forces and structures not in isolation but their relation to political structures and their outcomes. It is as, the social dimensions of politics is addressed by political sociology. It emphasis on the social basis for political process i.e. voting and movements, political competition among classes and political attitude of masses towards their political systems i.e. political culture. Moreover, this field is not rigid, precise and fixed in its scope and subject matters, rather it gives us a fluid and amoebic mix which differs both in its subject matter and in various parts of world where it is studies (L. S. Rathore, 1986)

Topic 003 What is Political Sociology ?

Smellser N.J defines it as “Political sociology is the study of interrelationship between society and polity, between social structures and political institutions”.

Maurice Duverger explains it as “political sociology is the science of power, of government and of authority of command in all human societies (including Nation states).

Bendix and Lipset concludes as “political science studies the effect of state on society while political sociology emphasis on the influence of society on state”.

L. S. Rathore in his article surmised as “it is an inter-disciplinary hybrid which attempts to combine social and political explanatory variables i.e. social and political

Hence it broadly becomes the study of social and political variables and explaining their influence on each other.

Topic 004 Major Characteristics of Political Sociology

Political sociology is different from other social sciences and their sub-fields both in its subject matters and approaches for their study. Unlike political science, which only focuses on state, political sociology is the study of state along with impact of society on it. It is also different from “sociology of politics” which is like a sub-field of sociology where we study the social context of power or politics. Political sociology on contrary studies both social and political aspects of power. Unlike political science which only focuses on formal structures of states, political sociology focuses on influence of social relations on political participation, representation and distribution of power. In a nutshell, political sociology is the study of fabrication of political relations in social context.

Topic 005 Scope and Subject Matter of Political Sociology

The scope of political sociology is very vast and fluid. It focuses on explaining variables of sociology (social structures) and political science (political structures) simultaneously. It is also referred as science of state, study of state and society interaction, study power, government and authority and the integration of political science and sociology. Every interpretation has its own merits and limits which makes the subject multi-dimensional. The subject matter of political sociology mainly consists of state-society relationship, power, authority, social movements, politics and state.

Subject Matters: State-Society Relationship

This topic will cover the emergence of political sociology as a separate field. In Ancient era, there was no difference between state and society. Greek philosophers emphasized on social basis of governments and states.

During Middle Ages, this distinction was made by various philosophers and state was declared as a limited organization and must work under superiority and influence of church.

Industrial Revolution led to the demise of feudal society and pervasive church.

Karl Marx visualized class as the basic explaining variable for social and political

Max Weber asserted that power is the focal point of social analysis.

Post WW2 literature than focused not on state-society debate but on political changes, revolutions and mass movements and their social basis

Lesson 02 · POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY IN CONTEXT OF PAKISTAN · TOPICS 006-008

Topic 006 Relevance of Political Sociology to Pakistani Political System

The study of social context of any political system is basic approach of political sociology. Pakistan is also a nation state having deep rooted social contexts of its political system. The social fabric of our society dates back to Dravidians, Aryans, Greece, and Mongols, Arabs and Turk Muslims and British cultures. Every social system is based on collective ideals, norms, ideologies and identities known as culture. These cultures then provide a psychological aspect for any political system where the orientation of people towards their political systems are analyzed. Hence becomes “political cultures”.

Political culture of Pakistan

Political culture is defined as “the orientation of people towards their political system”. It is of three type i.e. parochial, subject and participant. The prominent feature of our social structure affecting politics is our “caste system/ Biradari”. In post-independence era, this system was mainly nourished during different military authoritative regimes who established local electoral bodies/governments not on party base elections but rather on Biradari bases for legitimization of their authorities (Mughees Ahmed, 2011).

Biradari and Tribalism are key features of political cultures of Punjab and other provinces respectively. It is as political participation or any other engagement in political system are determined by these two factors in Pakistan. Local governments are main pillars of modern democracies but unfortunately in case of Pakistan, elections for this tier of government are solely held on Biradari and caste basis having no rationale for upholding the broader national cause.

Topic 007 Evolution of Political System in Pakistan

Evolution of Political System in Pakistan

Before partition, Muslim leaders under the umbrella of All India Muslim League struggled for the establishment of a separate state for the Muslim nation.

In Post-independence era, Pakistan faced many issues which due to a proper democratic political system could not be established which was envisioned by founding fathers.

These issues/crises were defined by Palmer as The Identity Crisis, The Crisis of Legitimacy, The Crisis of Integration, The Penetration Crisis, The Crisis of Participation and The Distribution Crisis (Palmer, 1975, p.46). The political system of Pakistan has evolved with the passage of time experience different mode of authorities like governor rule, bureaucratic rule, military dictatorships, democratic under military shadows and contemporary free election based governments. The sociological perspective about this evolution shows that ethnic,