ABSTRACT
Political sociology is concerned with the exercise and distribution of power within the context of the state, although the ability of one state to exert power or influence over another may be a significant variable in the exercise of power within a particular state. Organisations like European Community (EC) present problems to the traditional definition of the state, of which much the best known is Weber's: a human community that successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. Who exercises power in society is a matter than any other in political science, both empirically and normatively. Empirically, arguments tend to centre on whether power is concentrated in the hands of a small group an elite or whether it is dispersed among many, as pluralist theory argues. Arguments about authoritarian, totalitarian, and democratic distribution of power have received most attention.
