Political Power and Social Theory: Six Studies

Moore argues that complex social systems must be analyzed historically, not functionally. He criticizes American sociology for accumulating empirical tests without coherent theoretical grounding and for abstracting social life into static models. His position is intermediate: he accepts the necessity of theoretical concepts but rejects what he sees as the inflated conceptual schemes of Talcott Parsons and his disciples. The analysis of how one social structure passes into another, he contends, explains more than specifying the functions a system's parts serve at any given moment .

Moore uses 'charter myth' to describe the legitimating narrative that justifies a society's system of authority and inequality. It provides a sacred or traditional account of why the powerful rule and the subordinate obey. In his historical essays, Moore examines how charter myths operate in pre-industrial societies and how they can be invoked or contested during periods of crisis. This concept became part of his broader framework for understanding why people accept or resist political arrangements, later developed further in Injustice .

Political Power and Social Theory (1958) is the methodological precursor to Social Origins (1966). As one reader noted, it presents 'the theoretical groundwork of Moore's masterwork' . The essays develop Moore's commitment to historical and comparative analysis over ahistorical generalization, his critique of structural-functionalism, and his interest in the social roots of dictatorship. The book's discussion of 'totalitarian elements in pre-industrial societies' anticipates the questions about authoritarianism that Social Origins would later examine systematically across England, France, Germany, Russia, China, and India.

Moore objected to what he saw as the implicitly conservative content of Parsonian theory, particularly its use of the equilibrium concept. He argued that functional analysis could locate sources of conflict and predict lines of change, but the way Parsons and his followers employed it could not account for historical transformation or social upheaval. Moore's critique reflected a broader generational and intellectual conflict within Harvard sociology, where he occupied a marginal, independent position relative to the more scholastic Parsonsian school .

The book was first published by Harvard University Press in 1958 as Political Power and Social Theory: Six Studies, comprising 215 pages . A revised edition, Political Power and Social Theory: Seven Studies, was published by Harper & Row in 1962 and reprinted in 1965 as a Harper Torchbook. The seventh essay, 'On the notions of progress, revolution and freedom,' was added to the Torchbook edition .

Seymour Martin Lipset reviewed it in the American Sociological Review in 1960, engaging seriously with Moore's methodological arguments . A French review by Jean-Claude Casanova in the Revue française de science politique described Moore's position as intermediate between pure empiricists and grand theorists, noting his criticisms of both. Kirkus-style commentary from later readers emphasizes its value as a foundational document for historical sociology and as a precursor to Social Origins .