Political Sociology Research Articles

The Appropriation of Native American Culture for Sports Logos, Mascots, and Nicknames

ABSTRACTNative American imagery and symbols—as logos, mascots, and nicknames—have been commonplace in American sports since the early‐twentieth century. This review presents scholarship on this practice at the intersection between the sociology of sports, race/ethnicity, higher education, politics, and social movements, as well as other relevant social sciences. Scholarship has emphasized this imagery's social origins, public opinion, social psychology, and socio‐political trends in the conflict over and often elimination of such symbols. As a disproportionately American practice, Indigenous imagery in sports is linked to the history of settler‐colonialism, racialization, and corporate capitalism, and is found throughout all levels of sports (high schools, colleges and universities, and professional). After the US West's frontier closure, and during the height of Jim Crow and racial lynchings, many educational institutions adopted Indigenous imagery—motivated by a masculinity crisis and American myth‐making as a settler‐colonialist society. Sociological scholarship has used many methodological approaches, but has emphasized public opinion of the practice, using surveys to predict support for symbols, comparing racial differences, and criticizing how some surveys purportedly offer “support” to the practice via unreliable, non‐representative survey techniques. Social psychological studies has explored both the motivations for support and the consequences for the practice, giving particular attention to the impact on Indigenous people (especially Indigenous youth's self‐esteem), in contrast to evidence of improved white self‐efficacy. The long‐standing conflicts generated by the practice date back to the 1960s with the National Congress of American Indians and 1970s’ “red power” movements, specifically the American Indian Movement. These conflicts have pitted institutional actors (e.g., school administrators and team owners) and sports fans against movements for Indigenous autonomy and anti‐racism. Conflicts have involved widespread resistance from sports fans and alumni, against various waves of racial justice mobilizations. Decolonization efforts have aimed to achieve Indigenous self‐determination, the right to evade psychological disparagement in the face of both physical and cultural genocide, and to instead be empowered by ownership of their own cultural identity. While most universities and some professional sports teams have ended this practice, many have not—especially at the primary and secondary education levels. Thus, this research continues to occur within an active period of changing practices, and aims to respond to both evolving conditions and new scholarly questions.

Dreaming of 2053: Product design and the future of sleep

Commercial sleep products exhibit wide variety but share a common failing: they tend to frame sleep problems individually, ignoring the influence of systemic issues on human wellbeing. To discover whether speculative/critical design (SCD) might offer a more appropriate framing, we use the method of precedent analysis to assess nine examples of sleep related SCD practice. We apply Hale et al.’s socioecological model of sleep health to create a novel framework that classifies how products frame sleep problems and corresponding solutions. This reveals that SCD artefacts frequently recognise societal determinants in how they frame sleep, but their solution tend to focus on individual interventions. The paper questions whether SCD practitioners might benefit from adopting the concept of publics from political sociology to frame more effective solutions and mobilise action towards a more equitable sleep future. This paper presents an original synthesis of product design, sleep, sociology and politics.

Project-Based Learning in Political Sociology Course: Enhancing Student’s Critical Thinking Skills and Learning Outcome

Learning Political Sociology course at the Civic education department tends to be conventional and does not involve students completely. Therefore, a learning model which is needed for students to participate actively and stimulate their critical thinking skills should be implemented. The aims of this study are to determine students’ critical thinking skills and student learning outcomes, as well as to describe the advantages and disadvantages of learning using Project-based Learning. This study uses a qualitative approach and the subjects were 37 students of the Civics Education Study Program. Data were collected through observation, test, and conversation while the project was conducted using a rubric, test, and interview schedule and then analyzed using predetermined assessment criteria. The results showed that students were able to improve their critical thinking skills through challenging and simultaneous assignments on the topics, namely Legislative Candidates in the 2019 General Election. Due to a series of structured assignments, students also obtained good learning outcomes based on the six components assessed during the project that is a summary of an interview with the candidate, profile of candidates, journal, presentation, final report, and final test. Further research on the effect of the project on student understanding and involvement in the project is needed

Political Consumerism and Fairtrade: Some Critical/Theoretical Points

In the past decades, fairtrade and political consumerism became two paradigms of sustainability at large. And above all, in the context of social metamorphosis, they reflected another chapter of postmaterialist values update’s. Then, could we talk about a sort of “gastropolitics” (or, better, “gastropolity”)? And could we talk about this subject inside the frame of a political sociology of sustainability? Political consumerism refers to the deliberate purchase or avoidance of products, goods, or services for political reasons. And political consumption is a field of research at the intersection of consumer research and political sociology. Political consumption means the consideration of ethical or political motives in the decision to buy certain kind of products and to choose certain typologies of goods. Political consumerism is mainly expressed through boycotts and buycotts by consumers who want to make clear their political, ethical and environmental concerns. With this paper we would like to try to use some of these categories to discuss some examples and models of Fairtrade as a paradigm that has emerged in recent years in public discourse, disputing on what are possible critics and “objections” concerning so-called “Fairtrade debate”. And finally, we would like to use, on the other hand, as concrete case studies, two examples that although rather “classic”, studied in the relevant literature, serve us to critically explore the edges and involutions of the fairtrade and consumerism paradigm. Two very different brands that nevertheless seem to embody the extremes of this paradigm: on the one hand that of Slow food and on the other that of Whole Food.

Repoliticizing Green Spaces in Urban Transitions. The Relevance of Governance for Equitable Ecological Planning

In the pursuit of ecological transitions, city administrations emerge as key players in implementing global strategies. Urban ecological planning responds to several major objectives outlined in global sustainable agendas, and urban experimentation is considered an ideal arena for developing and testing models of renaturalization. However, this greening momentum is also serving as a means to depoliticize planning processes and city governance. Despite ambitious claims, ecological plans are frequently burdened by a fragmented approach, and a lack of structural imbalance and equity-focused provisions. The political significance of ecological planning and management is typically disregarded, with dissent and socio-economic impacts of greening on the population sidelined in favor of emphasizing social green benefits. Conveying a consensual and a-critical view of urban greening as a ‘pure good’ producing widespread benefits for all, and framing social benefits as a consequence of increased environmental quality sustainable planning often results in overlooking the possible unfair outcomes of greening-led urban regeneration. Moreover, emphasizing the urgency for adaptation measures, and celebrating measurable outcomes, ecological planning is embracing a technocentric approach to public space, whereby environmental issues are used to legitimize policies that are exclusionary. Fragmentation of ecological planning and governance, with the involvement of private actors or nonprofits in greening processes, may contribute to the decoupling of social and environmental claims, serving city marketing rather than citizens’ well-being and social cohesion, and may result in the privatization and commodification of nature. By drawing on the analysis of green management experiences, this paper analyzes the need for a political sociology perspective in understanding and re-politicizing the governance of green spaces.

Introduction. Putting the Political in Its Place: Towards a Political Sociology of Sustainability

Introduction. Putting the Political in Its Place: Towards a Political Sociology of Sustainability

Urban Sustainability and the Local Politics of Digital Twins: the Cases of Bologna and Milan

To address the complexity of sustainable urban development, policymakers are making increasing use of digital technology tools, now including AI and urban digital twins (UDTs). The aims of the article are to shed light on the political implications of UDTs uses in urban policy and governance aimed at sustainability and to understand from a perspective of political sociology factors influencing processes of UDTs design and implementation. Research questions regard the local politics of UDTs for sustainability analyzed through the lenses of policy frames, contexts, regulation and data governance and value. Responses are based on evidence from the comparative analysis of two case studies: Bologna and Milan, carried out through desk and field research (analysis of documents and interviews). Local agencies lead to different approaches and, potentially, outcomes, made possible by the diversity and plasticity of UDT models, systems and purposes, as well as by the elasticity and adaptability to different spatial contexts of the policy paradigm of urban sustainability. Two patterns of the local politics of UDTs emerge in Bologna and Milan, in which above all the roles of public actors and businesses are different. Logics of action, practices and forms of coordination are transferred from the broader systems of urban governance and political economy to the more circumscribed systems of action of UDTs.

Conflictology: a scientific portrait of a researcher. To the 90th anniversary birth of A. V. Dmitriev

The article is devoted to the Russian social scientist, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Anatoly Vasilyevich Dmitriev. The main milestones of his creative path and his scientific interests are analyzed. Some subject areas that have become central in A. V. Dmitriev’s research activities are shown: sociology of politics; migration problems in the context of conflictology; regional conflictology and communicative forms of interaction – scandal and provocation. His key works are presented, which make it possible to draw up a scientific portrait of the scientist, the problems of which are becoming particularly relevant today and for the future of our country.

History of the Foundation and Development of the Faculty of Sociology at Russian State University for the Humanities (Dedicated to the Anniversary of Zhan T. Toshchenko)

The article is devoted to the 90th anniversary of the Corresponding Member of the RAS, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor ZhanT.Toshchenko. The authors highlight his efforts for the creation and development of the Faculty of Sociology at Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH). Historically, the process of forming the Faculty included both the foundation of the university-wide Department of Sociology and the work of the Division of Sociology as part of the Faculty of Philosophy. To date, the Faculty of Sociology has the following departments: Department of Theory and History of Sociology (profile “Digital Sociology and Social Diagnostics” for undergraduate students and “Digital Sociology and Social Analytics” for master’s students), Department of Applied Sociology (profile “Sociology of Marketing” for undergraduate students), Department of Political Sociology and Social Technologies (profile “Social, Political and Management Technologies” for undergraduate students). Graduates of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs can improve their qualifications within the framework of postgraduate studies in order to defend their candidate’s theses in sociology in the Dissertation Council 24.2.366.04. In terms of continuing their professional development, there is an opportunity to defend a doctoral dissertation or join the ranks of the faculty. RSUH has developed its own model of sociological education. This allows to prepare a universal professional sociologist capable of not only independent judgments and critical thinking, but also of “mastering the craft” of organizing and conducting sociological research. Graduates of the Faculty are successfully employed both in research institutes and in sociological centers that are engaged in applied work. The article shows the process of formation of ZhanT.Toshchenko’s school of thought and reveals the peculiarities of the organization of professional educational and academic activities at the Faculty. The concept of the Faculty of Sociology is based on the paradigm of the sociology of life developed by ZhanT.Toshchenko. It includes a combination of theory and empiricism in teaching disciplines, as well as taking into account the real needs of the labor market; a special personnel selection to hire employees who have a knack for both research and educational work. The success in the development of the Faculty of Sociology at RSUH is a worthy result of the long-term fruitful activities of ZhanT.Toshchenko and the research and educational team that he have built up among like-minded people.

NATIONAL ISLAM IN THE CONTESTATION OF IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS IN INDONESIA

This article explores the contestation of ideology and commodification of identity within Indonesia’s political democracy. The interplay between religion and the state presents significant challenges, influencing political movements aligned with religious convictions. Employing a political sociology approach, this study examines the contention between factions advocating for the integration of religion and the state and those supporting their separation. Additionally, the analysis considers the relationship between identity commodification and ideological contestation, highlighting Pancasila’s role as a national consensus. A qualitative methodology provides in-depth insights, incorporating content and descriptive analysis to process information from various documents. Primary materials for this research encompass documents related to Pancasila values, identity commodification, and political contestation. The politicization of identity in Indonesia, characterized by the dichotomy between nationalist Islam and secular nationalism, is depicted as a strategic maneuver aimed at achieving power dominance. There are three political groups that will continue to color Indonesian politics because they have different perceptions of the relationship between religion and the state: Islamist groups who want to unite religion and state, secular groups who want to separate religion and state, and accommodative groups who place religion as a source of ethics and the moral basis of policy.

One client, four votes: Ethnopolitical clientelism and its socioeconomic consequences during state capture in Montenegro

Drawing on insights from political sociology and political economy, this article examines the socioeconomic consequences of entrenched ethnopolitical clientelism in postsocialist Montenegro. As a country that experienced its first electoral transfer of power in 2020, Montenegro's political transition was marked by state capture by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), a dominant party that structured the national economy to serve its political interests and support its clients. Throughout its three decades of dominance, the DPS not only developed effective clientelist mechanisms to secure popular support but also employed populist rhetoric to justify these and other undemocratic practices as necessary defenses against the “ethnonational other”, portrayed as intent on undermining Montenegro's statehood. This rhetoric deepened ethnonational antagonisms and strategically inhibited alliance-building across ethnopolitical cleavages that could have threatened DPS rule. Using multivariate analysis on a unique longitudinal dataset spanning 2007 to 2020 (N = 33,889), this study provides empirical evidence that DPS supporters were more likely to secure employment ( mass clientelism) and advance to higher income categories ( elite clientelism). The findings also indicate that Serbs faced discrimination not due to their ethnicity per se, but because they were the only ethnonational group overwhelmingly and consistently opposed to the DPS regime and its policies following Montenegro’s independence in 2006.

Community Typology and Voting Behavior in Elections: A Political Sociology Perspective

Regional head elections (Pilkada) are a democratic process that reflects the social dynamics of society in choosing leaders in regional elections, using a sociological approach to understand the social facts of society. This research aims to analyze typologies that influence voter preferences. This research uses qualitative methods with a case study approach in several regions that hold regional elections. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews, observation and documentation studies. The research results show that society can be classified into several typologies, such as pragmatic voters, ideological voters, and traditional voters. Pragmatic voters tend to vote based on personal interests or direct benefits, while ideological voters place more emphasis on the candidate's vision, mission and work program. Meanwhile, traditional voters are influenced by cultural factors, kinship, or personal relationships with candidates. Social factors such as campaign intensity, influence of public figures, and access to information also play an important role in shaping voter preferences. These findings show that voting behavior patterns are not only determined by rational aspects, but also by social and cultural values ​​inherent in society. This research makes an important contribution in understanding voter behavior from a sociological perspective, which can be a reference for stakeholders in designing political strategies that are more inclusive and responsive to community needs. Apart from that, the results of this research can also enrich the study of political sociology, especially in the context of local democracy in Indonesia.

‘Love is not tourism’: Navigating immobility through (migrant) resistance

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, border restrictions intensified, profoundly impacting binational couples and leading to the emergence of the ‘Love is not tourism’ movement. This initiative of 2020–2021, mainly mobilized through digital platforms like the Twitter and Facebook, emphasized the universal human right to love and in several European countries succeeded in gaining the right for unmarried third-country nationals to reunite with their European partners. Drawing from academic frameworks on regimes of mobility, imaginaries, and Maurice Stierl’s ‘resistance as a method’ approach, the article argues that the ‘tourism’ label is a tool for exerting control over undefined categories of migrants, like unmarried partners. Initially developed within political sociology, the notion of resistance seems useful for anthropological research, aiding in the unravelling of cultural imaginaries behind border constraints and their navigation. The explored movement, while challenging traditional conceptions of family and relationships, underscored the evolving interplay of migration, personal ties, and state policy. With a combination of online narratives, interviews, and first-hand participation as primary data, the study also reveals how collective activism further brought transformations surrounding intimate mobility in Europe.

(Post-)pandemic Somatechnics, Neoliberalism, and the Return to (Academic) Normalcy: Digital Conversations

This essay consists of a set of digital (post-)pandemic email correspondence held between a political sociologist and an interdisciplinary philosopher working at western European universities while the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly unfolded itself. Starting from an unsettling point in time in 2021, during which vaccination strategies and numerous eugenic pandemic containment measures were being discussed, the authors touch upon issues as diverse as the importance of embodied feminist theorising in pandemic crisis times; neoliberal extractive capitalism’s influence on society, pandemic (mis)management, and higher education; the problematic (post-)pandemic business-as-usual-narrative; grief, mourning, and trauma; the power of anger and protesting; and the forced return to normal(cy). These conversations are held together by an irruptions-based methodology based on Deleuze and Guattari (2000) . This methodology tries to make sense of the (post-)pandemic as a disruptive event while forming the backdrop for conversational and critical theoretical snippets, self-designed memes, and critical race, queer, disability, and feminist theoretical perspectives that all conceptualise (post-)pandemic somatechnics as a ‘form of ethico-political critical practice’ ( Sullivan and Murray 2011 : vii).

Political sociology in Armenia: stages of institutionalization and priorities

The rise of sociology as a science, reflecting modernization processes in society and exerting significant influence on them, developed during the post-Soviet period of Armenian reality. This development was facilitated by ‘discovery’ of sociology by the post-Soviet society and the close (though not always equal) interaction of domestic sociologists with Western sociological schools. Additionally, the participation of Western sociologists of Armenian nationality contributed to the formation of Armenian statehood as well as to growth of sociology as an academic discipline in Armenia. Under the influence of democratization processes, political sociology focused primarily on the transitional Armenian society, addressing the formation of power institutions and the utilization of political technologies. Regional dynamics, traditional and new foreign policy processes in Armenia, threats, and risks influenced the study of foreign policy guidelines within Armenian society. This also led to the formation and development of sociology of conflict and military sociology, closely linked to political sociology and sometimes inseparable. The effective managing of the Armenian state and society directly correlates with the integration of political sociology into political practices, and with demand for sociological knowledge, especially sociological forecasts, among decision-makers.

Political legitimacy after the pits: Corruption narratives and labour power in a former coalmining town in England.

This article examines the erosion of political legitimacy in ex-mining towns in England. Political sociologists and political scientists have long taken an interest in the politics of coalmining areas, which were characterised by high strike rates and militant left values. More recently, the question of legitimacy in these areas has resurfaced, as now-deindustrialised pit towns register unusually high levels of political discontent and disengagement compared to areas with similar economic and demographic profiles. In interviews and group discussions with 93 residents of the former mining town of Mansfield, England, I find that many express ideas that profoundly challenge the system of representative democracy in its current form, with almost one in three participants understanding politics primarily through the frame of corruption. Drawing on an emergent literature which casts corruption talk as a moralised discourse of political in/exclusion, I argue that the corruption frame is best understood as the inversion of a now-defunct symbolic economy. As workers in pit towns no longer received the same tokens of care from their representatives, reflecting their reduced power, many came to understand the political system as corrupt and illegitimate.

Living with Brexit: Families, relationships and the temporalities of everyday personal life in ‘Brexit Britain’

Drawing upon ethnographic research with families as they navigate a year in ‘Brexit Britain’, this article explores how people live with Brexit, examining the effect of Brexit politics on everyday personal life, particularly relationships with family. In order to examine how macro-political events and timescapes interact with the quotidian, the article explores interactions between ‘Brexit time’ (including key political moments as well as periods of slowed political activity) and ‘personal time’ (including the day-to-day rhythms of everyday life and more special occasions). The temporal interactions between Brexit and people’s daily lives, whether through the constant low-level simmering presence of the issue, the impactful moments when Brexit ‘boils over’ into family life, or a more profound relationship with the substance of Brexit politics, offer a lens through which we can understand how politics and other socio-economic events of (inter)national significance are lived in the context of everyday personal lives. The resonance of this analysis applies beyond Brexit and contributes to political sociology more broadly as well as to sociologies of everyday personal life.

Decarbonization and the Capitalist State

ABSTRACTDecarbonization is the most important challenge of our time. Though quite modest, states are taking more climate action. How should we approach these efforts? Sociologists have paid less attention to decarbonization overall but frameworks in political sociology can make sense of state power and climate politics. In this review, I first discuss two sets of literature. The first extends “state‐capacity” and institutionalist frameworks. The second is based on radical and Marxist state theories. Following this, I draw from Mann's concept of “infrastructural power” which combines elements of both and can situate state power in a transnational context. Using this concept and recent literature in political economy, I discuss three infrastructures—finance, trade, and energy—and consequential ways states have altered them in recent years. These actions reveal profound geoeconomic contradictions which will undermine decarbonization. Together, this review provides a wide survey of state theories and macroscopic climate politics with the hope of spurring further discussion and debate.

Cleavage theory meets Bourdieu: studying the role of group identities in cleavage formation

Abstract In this paper, we develop a framework for studying the role of group identities in contemporary cleavage formation. Identities, we suggest, hold the key to a central conundrum of current political sociology: the fact that today’s electoral realignments appear to be rooted in the social structure of post-industrial societies, while the decline of mass organizations has dissolved traditional links between politics and social structure. Bringing cleavage theory into dialog with the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, we theorize how group identities may play an important role in stabilizing a new universalism-particularism cleavage emerging in Western Europe today. We identify two key processes of cleavage identity formation: bottom-up processes of “social closure” and top-down “classification struggles” waged by political entrepreneurs. For both processes, we review empirical findings and formulate an agenda for further research.

Conservative turn and political identity: challenges to democracy in Indonesia after presidential election 2019

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to examine the conservative shift and identity politics: challenges to democracy in Indonesia after the 2019 presidential election. In this research, the author uses a political sociology approach as a perspective in conducting the analysis. The research method in this study uses a qualitative approach by emphasizing literature review data or literature studies related to the theme in the article. The available data is used as the basis for exploration by using sentences that are connected to form phrases and qualitative analysis. It is known that in political life, ethnic identity is used as a vote banker. Meanwhile, Islamic conservatism and populism are religious forces that disrupt electoral democracy. Issues of identity politics, conservatism, and Islamic populism will continue to grow if moderate Islamic forces such as Muhammadiyah and NU do not emerge in political and religious life.