Book Note: The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology.

Book Note
Kate Nash and Alan Scott, eds.
The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology.
Blackwell Publishers, 2001, 478 pp.
$US 99.95 cloth (0631320504)

This edited collection is part of a relatively new Blackwell series of companion volumes, and it covers a lot of territory. The work has 38 original chapters organized into 4 Parts entitled Approaches to Power and the Political, The State and Governance, The Political and the Social, and Political Transformations. The editors recognize that their section headings and classifications are somewhat arbitrary, and the selections represent both classical and newer developing sub-areas of political sociology, such as “power, the state, violence, governance, identity, and citizenship”. Chapter summaries, further reading lists and a comprehensive bibliography are provided. There is no conclusion, in keeping with the goals of this reference volume, and perhaps reflecting the editors’ wisdom and modesty in assembling a wide-ranging collection of views . The book’s strong points would appear to be its catholic outlook in the best sense of the term, and its international, mainly British and European cast of established authors; a weak point would be the price!

Leslie S. Laczko
Department of Sociology
University of Ottawa
laczko@uottawa.ca



		Canadian Journal of Sociology Online January - February 2002 Book Note Kate Nash and Alan Scott, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology. Blackwell Publishers, 2001, 478 pp. $US 99.95 cloth (0631320504) This edited collection is part of a relatively new Blackwell series of companion volumes, and it covers a lot of territory. The work has 38 original chapters organized into 4 Parts entitled Approaches to Power and the Political, The State and Governance, The Political and the Social, and Political Transformations. The editors recognize that their section headings and classifications are somewhat arbitrary, and the selections represent both classical and newer developing sub-areas of political sociology, such as “power, the state, violence, governance, identity, and citizenship”. Chapter summaries, further reading lists and a comprehensive bibliography are provided. There is no conclusion, in keeping with the goals of this reference volume, and perhaps reflecting the editors’ wisdom and modesty in assembling a wide-ranging collection of views . The book’s strong points would appear to be its catholic outlook in the best sense of the term, and its international, mainly British and European cast of established authors; a weak point would be the price! Leslie S. Laczko Department of Sociology University of Ottawa laczko@uottawa.ca http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/polsoc.html January 2002 © CJS Online