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Sociology and Political Science

Political science confines its study to the political motivations of man and political processes going on in a society. Sociology as compared to political science covers a wide range of activities of individuals and groups in society. However the political processes have social ramifications also and social movements or change leads to drastic changes at political level. They are interlinked and interdependent. The development of behaviourism in political science is largely an influence of sociology on it. According to Barnes the most significant thing about sociology and modern political theory in the last thirty years have been along the line of development suggested and marked out by sociology.

Due to these reasons it is difficult to differentiate between political science and political sociology. However there are some differences also between the two. Sociology is the science of society while political science is the science of state and political processes. Scope of sociology is wide as compared to that of political science. According to Garner political science is concerned with only one form of human association- the state;sociology deals with all forms of association. Sociology studies both organized and unorganized societies while political science studies the organized societies only.