Three varieties of pluralism

In this book David Nicholls provides a critical and comparative consideration of three distinct but connected varieties of social and political pluralism.
He commences by outlining the theory of English political pluralists at the beginning of the present century, including Maitland, Figgis, Laski and Cole. He then examines the pluralist tradition in United States political science from Bentley through Truman to
Dahl, considering the principal criticisms which have been directed at these theories. He next examines the ideas of a plural society put forward by such social anthropologists as Furnivall, M. G. Smith and Despres. In a final chapter certain institutional implications of pluralism are mentioned, and there is a discussion of the role which various conceptions of pluralism have played in comparative politics.
In considering these different conceptions of pluralism in a single volume the author attempts to clarify a somewhat ambiguous and contentious term. The book is essentially a critical introduction to the literature rather than an exhaustive study.