Political sociology is a special branch of sociology that studies various types of relationships between people in the political sphere with such institutions as the state, social movements, parties.
The basis of political life lies in the issue of power. Political sociology as a science can only develop in a democratic state , since it develops the ideology of civil liberties and rights, studies the mechanisms of power, and studies the processes of the emergence of a certain social order.
Political culture is a mechanism that provides for the regulation of individual behavior in the political sphere.
The political process is characterized by a two-layer structure. On the one hand, it consists of official actions leading to levers of power, and on the other - of unofficial ones. The structure of politics distinguishes political relations, political norms, political organizations (in the form of the state, parties, political entities), political culture.
Political sociology began to develop in the process of democratization of public life, when sociology gradually began to penetrate into the political sphere. The formation of this science in Russia did not begin “from scratch”. In foreign countries, there has already been experience in sociological research. Given this experience, it is necessary to consider the problems of separating political sociology into a separate science.
In the West, political sociology as a separate area of sociological science was established in the 30s and 50s of the 20th century. But elements of the sociological approach in the manifestation of political life already existed in scientific theories developed in the Ancient East, in Ancient Greece and Rome, then they were developed in the works of N. Machiavelli, T. Hobbes, S. L. Montesquieu, J. Boden and others .
Many researchers are of the opinion that the founders of political sociology should be considered K. Marx and M. Weber. The political sociology of Weber made the central concept a power as an opportunity to impose one’s own will on all other participants in social relations, regardless of their resistance.
The work of V. Pareto, P. Sorokin, G. Mosca, T. Parsons, M. Duverger, R. Michels, G. Lasswell, and in the Marxist direction G. Plekhanov, V. Lenin, were important in the formation of the theoretical foundations of science. A. Gramsci, K. Kautsky and others.
In the XX century. political sociology was divided into many approaches to the study of political life: institutional (A. Bentley, J. Bryce), behaviorist (C. Boulding, D. Waldo, C. Merriam), post-behaviorist (S. Dodd, R. C. Mills) modeling (G. Almond, C. Deutsch, D. Is¬ton,), value (G. Lasswell, F. Bro, L. Hoffman).
In Russia, this science developed under the influence of Western teachings. However, in the process of development, it reached very serious heights, often ahead of Western researchers. Such results are explained by the severity of social contradictions that exist in Russian society.
A significant contribution to the development of domestic political sociology was made by K. D. Cavelin, B. N. Chicherin, A. D. Gradovsky, M. M. Kovalevsky, S. A. Muromtsev, V. I. Sergeevich, N. M. Korkunov, N.I. Kareev, G.F. Shershenevich, B.A. Kistyakovsky.
The turning point in the development of Russian science is associated with the work of P. Sorokin. He created a sociological doctrine, developed a program of empirical research. He wrote the “Publicly Available Textbook of Sociology”, in which he presented methodological calculations that significantly affected the further understanding of the subject of this science.
A decisive contribution to the further development of science was made by M. Ya. Ostrogorsky.
The subject of political sociology is still the subject of scientific discussion (they call it the essence of power, human rights and freedoms and social groups, and there are other opinions on this subject). The object of it is called the political life of a developed civil society.