ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a frame of analysis for studying pacifism. It elaborates the development and the meaning of pacifism, since there are diverse concepts of pacifism. The chapter explores how political sociologists view and analyse power, politics and society in changing national and international contexts. It aims to introduce and illustrate the approach of political sociology. The chapter pays special attention to the standpoint and perspective from which political sociologists understand power, politics and society. It shows that gaining a full understanding of pacifism in a given country requires uncovering the social and political forces that influence that country's policy choices and decisions in a particular social, political and economic context. Pacifism in France in the early twentieth century also exhibits certain contingent elements. French pacifists believed that the Quaker and absolute religious position against having arms was adversative to the interests of their movement and to France. Non-religious inspiration for pacifism can also be found in humanist traditions.
