Page 17 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

Changing Definitions of Politics and Power 3

of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the
resistance of others who are participating in the action ” (Weber, 1948a :
1
180). On this definition, power could be a dimension of any social rela-

tion, and politics need not be seen as a highly specialized activity exercised
only in relation to a specific institution. In fact, however, Weber, like

others, focused his attention on the state as a special kind of institution
that successfully possesses a monopoly of the legitimate use of force
within a given territory (Weber, 1948b : 78). As Dowse and Hughes argue
in their introduction to political sociology, although there seems to be no
compelling analytic argument why the discipline should have focused its
attention on state institutions, as a matter of fact , political sociologists
have concerned themselves principally with the ways in which society has
2
affected the state (Dowse and Hughes, 1972 : 7).
Over the last couple of decades, however, political sociology has shifted
away from this focus on how society affects the state. From the point of
view of contemporary political sociology, such an approach is fundamen-
tally flawed. In the first place, economic, political, and cultural globaliza-

tion means that what the state is and does is now itself in question.
Though action taken in the “ name of the state ” is often very effective,
and with the “ war on terror ” following 9/11, state violence has become
more visible in some respects, state action must now almost invariably
take into account institutions, processes, and actors in relation to which
states were previously considered sovereign and autonomous. At the same
time, the class formations around which national political parties were
organized have become fragmented and the political concerns associated
with class - based political parties problematized. The structure of the
workforce has changed and with it, the expectation of stable, secure
working lives for many people. The fragmentation and pluralization of
values and lifestyles, with the growth of the mass media and consumerism
and the decline of stable occupations and communities, all mean that
previously taken - for - granted social identities have become politicized. In
this context, the rise of social movements and networks organized differ-
ently from parties, and representing non - class identities such as gender,
ethnicity, and sexuality, have changed both the form and the content of

politics. Wider definitions of power and politics are needed to encompass
the formation, contestation, and transformation of identities and institu-

tions across the social field, if fluid, fragmented, and fast - changing con-

temporary social relations are to be understood.

Empirical changes would not be sufficient, however, to create a new
approach to political sociology if there were not also new theoretical tools
with which to make sense of them. There has been a paradigm shift in