''Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics'' is a

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

book from 1960 by

Seymour Martin Lipset Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union o ...

. The book is an influential analysis of the bases of democracy across the world. One of the important sections is Chapter 2: "Economic Development and Democracy." Larry Diamond and Gary Marks argue that "Lipset's assertion of a direct relationship between

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

and democracy has been subjected to extensive empirical examination, both quantitative and qualitative, in the past 30 years. And the evidence shows, with striking clarity and consistency, a strong causal relationship between economic development and democracy." In Chapter V, Lipset analyzed "Fascism"—Left, Right, and Center, and explained that the study of the social bases of different modern mass movements suggests that each major social stratum has both democratic and extremist political expressions. He explained the mistakes of identifying extremism as a right wing phenomenon, and Communism with the left wing phenomenon. He underlined that extremist ideologies and groups can be classified and analyzed in the same terms as democratic groups, i.e., right, left, and center. The book sold more than 400,000 copies and was translated into 20 languages, including: Vietnamese, Bengali, and Serbo-Croatian.Diamond, Larry
. Hoover Institution, "In Memoriam: Seymour Martin Lipset, 1922–2006: A Giant among Teachers," 2007. accessed: December 27, 2007.

* Contents ** Chapter I: The Sociology of Politics * PART I: The Conditions of the Democratic Order ** Chapter II: Economic Development and Democracy ** Chapter III: Social Conflict, Legitimacy, and Democracy ** Chapter IV: Working-class Authoritarianism ** Chapter V: Fascism—Left, Right, and Center * PART II: Voting in Western Democracies ** Chapter VI: Elections: Who Votes and Who Doesn't? ** Chapter VII: Elections: The Expression of the Democratic Class Struggle ** Chapter VIII: Elections: The Expression of the Democratic Class Struggle—Continuity and Change * PART III: Political Behavior in American Society ** Chapter IX: Classes and Parties in American Politics ** Chapter X: American Intellectuals: Their Politics and Status ** Chapter XI: The Emergence of the One-party South—The Election of 1860 * PART IV: The Politics of Private Government: A Case Study ** Chapter XII: The Political Process in Trade-unions * A Personal Postscript

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{{reflist 1960 non-fiction books Political books Political science books Doubleday (publisher) books