ABSTRACT
Political sociology seeks to explore and explain the relationship between social and political phenomena and to place politics within its societal context. As an interdisciplinary subject area it has built on the foundations laid by Marx and Weber, but it has done so spasmodically and haphazardly, and while much has been achieved, much remains to be done. Not all those who have contributed to the development of political sociology would necessarily wish to describe themselves as political sociologists, but this is less important than acknowledging the contribution that their work has made for those whose interests clearly fall within the ambit of political sociology. This is because the latter draws widely not only on the work of sociologists and political scientists, but also on many other disciplines, notably history, philosophy, economics, psychology, and communication studies. What, then, has been achieved and what remains to be done?
