Book Review: Elisabeth S Clemens, What is Political Sociology?
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917713466 |
| Author | Alex Gould |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsPolitical Theory |
Book Reviews 605
related. Resourcefulness could, for instance, be
thought to be a manifestation of resilience.
Further, resourcefulness is positively
described as something that enables an under-
dog like the sophist Protagoras to bring
Socrates into a difficult position (p. 102). Yet,
this is surely not always valuable in and of
itself. A one-sided praising of the undermining
of established ways of thinking and debating
risks rendering this understanding of the con-
cept mute when the same political strategy ena-
bles the rise of demagogues like Trump.
These considerations aside, however, the
book offers a careful and relevant treatment of
the concept of ēthos and its place in historical
and contemporary political thought.
Markus Furendal
(Stockholm University)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917719414
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What is Political Sociology? by Elisabeth S
Clemens. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016. 166pp.,
£14.99 (p/b), ISBN 9780745691619
In this text, Elisabeth S. Clemens seeks to
delineate and explore the field of political soci-
ology, giving new impetus and clarity to socio-
logical analysis of political life. On the back of
a sophisticated yet concise study of power, she
guides the reader through a range of fields of
analysis for political sociologists, spanning the
‘traditional’ foci of disciplines ranging from
political science and international relations to
criminology and cultural studies. Aimed at
faculty members as well as undergraduate and
graduate students, What is Political Sociology?
represents a valuable resource for anyone
aspiring to undertake holistic, interdisciplinary
research in the social sciences.
Chapter 1 examines the concept of power on
which much of the text’s analysis is based.
Using the concepts of ‘social closure’ and
‘social caging’, Clemens argues that all types of
social organisation – whether the state, family
or political party – are pervaded by durable
forms of political ordering. Drawing on Mann,
Marx, Weber and Habermas, she asserts that
social orders depend on overlapping cages and
closures: for ancient democratic participation,
for example, a concept of ‘citizen’ inextricable
from both masculinity and financial empower-
ment.
Over the course of the book, Clemens goes
on to explore the socio-political structures at the
heart of several other important aspects of polit-
ical and social life. In chapter 2, she examines
the dialectics of trade, nationalism and war that
underpin the development of modern nation
states and empires; in chapter 4, the role of
socio-economic identity in shaping voting
behaviour; and in chapter 7, the overlapping
commercial and political orders that coalesce to
form international society and global govern-
ance.
What is Political Sociology? succeeds on
several counts. Although those looking for
strikingly original sociological thinking or the
introduction of new data or objects of analysis
may be disappointed, the book successfully
lays out a sophisticated and coherent frame-
work for political sociology, clarifying a hith-
erto muddy disciplinary identity. In particular,
the concepts of ‘social closure’ and ‘social cag-
ing’ provide a conceptual frame for wide-rang-
ing analyses of political and social life;
throughout the text, Clemens skillfully and suc-
cinctly applies this conceptual framework to a
variety of contemporary and historical social
fields. The book is superbly written and appeals
to a very broad readership. It may become a sta-
ple of sociology and political science courses in
universities everywhere in years to come.
Alex Gould
(King’s College London)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917713466
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Reconstructing Human Rights: A Pragmatist
and Pluralist Inquiry in Global Ethics by Joe
Hoover. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
244pp., £55.00 (h/b), ISBN 9780198782803
Joe Hoover’s engagingly written book is a wel-
come, fresh and distinctive contribution to the
theoretical literature on human rights. It is
Hoover’s contention that much of contempo-
rary human rights theory is preoccupied with
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