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from I - Theories of Political Sociology

Edited by Thomas Janoski, University of Kentucky, Cedric de Leon, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Joya Misra, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Isaac William Martin, University of California, San Diego
Book: The New Handbook of Political Sociology
Published online: 22 February 2020
Print publication: 05 March 2020, pp 102-131
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Summary

In the 1990s, the idea that culture had a role to play in political sociology was relatively novel. Identifying sociologists who fit this emerging interdisciplinary subfield posed a challenge. Today, it is difficult to imagine a sociologist, or even a political scientist, who would argue against the importance of culture to politics. It has become de rigueur to acknowledge culture in political analysis. If anything, the field of politics and culture borders on oversubscription. Methodological issues that dominated early syntheses (Berezin 1994, 1997b) remain salient. These include epistemological discussions of culture as an explanatory factor in social analysis (e.g., Berezin 2014a; Wagner-Pacifici 2017) distinctions between qualitative and quantitative methodology (Goertz and Mahoney 2012).

Appropriating the “No”: The French National Front, the Vote on the Constitution, and the “New” April 21
Mabel Berezin
Journal: PS: Political Science & Politics / Volume 39 / Issue 2 / April 2006
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2006, pp. 269-272
Print publication: April 2006
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On the evening of May 26, 2005, with the polls suggesting that the European Constitution was veering toward defeat, Jacques Chirac made a final exhortation to the French public. He argued that the French were voting not on a sectarian political issue but on an issue that would determine the future of themselves, their children, France, and Europe. Chirac characterized the choice before French citizens as “neither right nor left.” His use of a phrase more commonly associated with Vichy displayed an uncharacteristic historical amnesia and suggests that Chirac and his party were grabbing at straws in those final days.