Interest Groups, Elites and Political Parties

Paper Summary:

The paper reviews the history of sociological studies of political groups, parties and influence, starting in the 1920s, citing several studies. The paper lists different schools of thought on the topic beginning in the late 19th century, classifies them and identifies writers who advocated each of these schools.

Table of Contents:
Interest Groups, Elites, and Political Parties
Analysis of Political Attitudes
Modern Major Directions of Interest
Functionalism and Structuralism
Symbolic Interactions
Modern Determinism
Bibliography

From the Paper:

"What some have called the behavioral revolution had its greatest successes in the analysis of public opinion, political attitudes, and electoral behavior. Especially in the period after World War II, the refinement of statistical techniques in public-opinion polling, the analysis of voter behavior, and the development of new research concepts have brought the study of opinions and attitudes closest to the goal of the scientific outlook and some considerable distance from the mark made by Merriam in the 1920s. The Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has become an important national center for the collection of data on elections and voter behavior."

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