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The author seeks to explain the paradox that, despite the multiplicity of theories about the State in black Africa, empirical studies devoted to the public service, to the administration and to civil servants, have provided only meagre results, regardless which social science discipline or which country is involved. As the State becomes a purely political entity, especially during periods of adjustment, crisis or démocratisation, it seems to have lost its status as a social group of bureaucrats. After a brief examination of available data on the sociology of civil servants (at global, régional and sectoral levels), we examine the possible causes for this lack of interest, such as the dynamics of the "grass-roots politics" approach during the 1980s and 90s, the fact that sociology of organisation has not been applied or extrapolated for African states, and the resulting thematic disengagement The most recent studies on corruption (notably in the area of development) or on the privatisation of administrative functions do not provide solutions for these problems. Yet the sociological existence of State organs calls for an empirical approach which takes into account both the historical and the comparative perspective.