Author: Karl Marx
Synopsis
Marx analyzes the political upheavals that led Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to power in France. He shows how class interests, political organizations, historical circumstances, ideology, and state institutions interacted in ways that could not be reduced to a simple economic formula.
Why It Matters to Sociology
The book is an important example of historical sociology. It demonstrates how social classes become political actors, how coalitions form, and how political outcomes emerge from the interaction of economic structures, institutions, leadership, and historical contingency.