1. Politics and Sociology The Definitions and its Methodology

2. Definitions Sociology - the study of human behaviour within a society Politics - resolution of human conflict, process of deciding and allocating resources, functions of government Political Sociology - links between politics and society Think of ‘Right of Abode Issues, 1999’

3. … it studies the nexus of society and politics, or the sociology of politics; … it examines how society and various social groups, defined by factors such as social class, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, occupation affect politics, and vice versa … study of power and power structures at all levels

4. Relevancy??? Understand the nature of society (power) …. The decision making process and the decision which affect us….. Moral and ethical concerns behind... right for some people to dominate, right for some people to suffer because of ….. What can we do…...

5. Traditional Approaches Historical - history is the root of politics; politics is the fruit of history Legalistic - study of constitutions and legal codes Institutional - legislature, executive and judiciary

6. Contemporary Approaches Behavioural - behaviour of political actors (empirical and value-free) Psychological - learning, socialisation, personality, cognitive dissonance … Systems - political structure and process as systems, systems interplay Communications - media, information, perception, reception