ABSTRACT
The context of Theda Skocpol's States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China is the field of sociology. At its highest level, sociology is the study of "the social"—how society is organized, and how this enables and constrains those who live within it. Mills believes that empiricism should be the main method of sociology. One of history's most important theorists of revolution was the German political philosopher Karl Marx. Marx believed that the essence of this struggle was a matter of social class; indeed, the exploitation of the working class by the wealthy was absolutely central to his historical analysis of society. Emile Durkheim rejected what was called the "historical materialism" of Marx, claiming it was insufficiently scientific in its analysis of the whole of society. Skocpol's most important influence was Barrington Moore, whose book The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy examines the interaction between modernization, revolution, and revolutionary outcomes.
