Political sociology in Deutschland - research fields, analysis perspectives, selected empirical findings

This paper provides an overview of the state of the art in the field of Political Sociology in Germany. It turns out that Political Sociology has been established as an independent sub-discipline in Political Science. The theoretical approaches predominantly follow an empirical-analytical perspective. In terms of methodology, a quantitative approach is prevailing. The number of research fields has significantly broadened. Major research topics are: democracy and the transformation of political systems, political parties, political participation and voting behaviour, political values and attitudes, political communication.