tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post8530298295900177219..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Political Sociology Vs Political SciencePhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-86297372916838311332008-08-28T23:18:00.000+01:002008-08-28T23:18:00.000+01:00That is the rub, Graculus. The SP, for example, do...That is the rub, Graculus. The SP, for example, does have the properties of a party. It engages in 'conventional' electoral behaviour, has five councillors, etc. But also engages in the kinds of campaign activities as social movement organisations. It is a hybrid organisation, from the standpoint of political research. The same is true of the SWP, with the exception its electoral interventions these last eight years have taken place under other names - Socialist Alliance, Respect, Left Alternative. Formally, they are irrelevant as far as the party systems in Westminster, Cardiff and Holyrood but, for reasons I have stated, both have influenced Westminster despite being on the outside.<BR/><BR/>But returning to the definition issue, it is an interesting question. Since Muller-Rommel's volume on Small Parties in 1991 there has been very little in political science building on the scholarship it contained. For a start I think the party/group definition has to turn on elected representatives (of any kind), formal apparatus, primary political activities and what, if any, measurable effect they have on the party system.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-38374175215021984242008-08-28T18:17:00.000+01:002008-08-28T18:17:00.000+01:00Very interesting - but the limitations of 'politic...Very interesting - but the limitations of 'political science' are much wider than its problems in theorizing or understanding the role of small parties.<BR/><BR/>There is a much larger literature on far right/fascist /populist parties than left parties, but perhaps because they are more significant.<BR/><BR/>You do need to define 'party' - Respect's status as a party is a complexx issue. It's an anachronism to talk about SP having 3 MPs. In particular what about size - SWP and SP are pretty small, how small does an organization have to get before you stop calling it a 'party' and say it's a 'group'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-64531056523377290022008-08-26T23:07:00.000+01:002008-08-26T23:07:00.000+01:00I've already got my approach sorted - it's too lat...I've already got my approach sorted - it's too late to change it now! I'm using a combination of Pierre Bourdieu, grounded theory and social movement theory to go through the transcripts to hopefully generate a set of concepts that address the problem of commitment. <BR/><BR/>On Freud, I'm still not sure about him. I haven't read any Freud since I was an undergrad and I'm not au fait with psychoanalysis. Maybe I'll take another look at it when my PhD is done.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-61347550332767714312008-08-26T15:14:00.000+01:002008-08-26T15:14:00.000+01:00Have you considered using a marxist-psychoanalyst ...Have you considered using a marxist-psychoanalyst approach in research of revolutionary parties.<BR/><BR/>Eugene Wolfenstein in his seminal marxist-psychoanalyst biography of Malcolm X uses concepts from Freud's Group Psychology and sociologists of the crowd such as Le Bon to analyse Malcolm's experience in the Nation of IslamRespectable Citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07647474524587893461noreply@blogger.com