The Social Side of Politics

This small volume of essays collects some material from the public interest sociological website, The Society Pages, about how social scientists study and generate ideas about politics. Their notion of politics here is limited to its formal functions as elected government, and nominally informal polls and other consumer data. The 5-20 page essays are organized into three sections. The first is on core contributions to the sociology of politics, ranging from power to polls to elections. The second looks at cultural contexts for American politics, including religious, sports-oriented, Facebook, and other pablum. The last section offers critical takes on black Republicans, the utility of transcendence, an aging political body, and poverty management. The contributors write for the aforementioned website and are mostly all American professors of sociology. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)