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Political Parties and Social Movements : From the illusions of « current affairs » to a sociological perspective Two competing stereotypes can currently be identified in the debates within the radical left and insocial movements. One of these stereotypes postulates the death of political parties and prophesiesa political renewal animated by social movements. The other stereotype projects a resurrection ofthe party-structure and considers the role of social movements to be merely subaltern. The presentarticle adopts a position which is sociologically antithetical regarding this issue : it begins by examining the numerous similarities between political parties and social movements and, more particularly, their shared vulnerability to the traits of professionalisation and the monopolisation of power.Contemporary social movements are not immune to such trends, despite repeated protestations oftheir commitment to horizontality. The article goes on to examine the process of differentiationwhich caused social movements to establish a specific space, separate from the political sphere. Inthe wake of this process, the political and the social appear to constitute two distinct universes,traversed by their own specific logics, while at the same time retaining relations which are both closeand fluctuating.