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political system

Definition of Political System

(noun) The members of a group with the authority and power to influence and implement public policy in relationship to institutions and norms.

Examples of Political System

  • Government of the United States
  • United Nations

Political System Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: po·lit·i·cal sys·tem

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /puh-lIt-i-kuhl sIs-tuhm/
  • British English – /puh-lIt-i-kuhl sIs-tim/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /pəˈlɪtəkəl ˈsɪstəm/
  • British English – /pəˈlɪtɪkəl ˈsɪstɪm/

Usage Notes

Additional Information

Related Terms


Works Consulted

Ferrante, Joan. 2011a. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferrante, Joan. 2011b. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Cite the Definition of Political System

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “political system.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/political-system/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

political system. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/political-system/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “political system.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/political-system/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“political system.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/political-system/>.