ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some aspects of the behavior of social groups in politics, taking into account the political alternatives which face the electorates of different countries, with special reference to the ways in which various party systems organize and affect their social bases. Concern with formal constitutional provisions has generally been outside the province of political sociology. Sociologists tend to see party cleavages as reflections of an underlying structure, and hence, wittingly or not, frown on efforts to present the enacted rules of the game as key causal elements of a social structure. The ability of the two-party system to provide for generalized leadership is closely linked to the fact that one party always represents the government and actually rules the country, so that the party in power temporarily becomes identical with the State. The study of the social effects of diverse constitutional arrangements should remain a major concern for the student of politics and comparative institutions.
