Fourteenth Edition Chapter 1 Politics and Political Science Roskin Cord Medeiros Jones What Is Politics 11 Evaluate the several explanations of political power Government context ID: 751048
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Slide1
Political Science: An Introduction
Fourteenth Edition
Chapter 1
Politics and PoliticalScience
Roskin
| Cord | Medeiros | JonesSlide2
What Is Politics?
1.1 Evaluate the several explanations of political power.
Government context
Nongovernment context
Happens in the workplace, families, classrooms
Ongoing competition between people, usually in groups, to shape policy in their favorSlide3
Political Power (1 of 4)
Niccolò
Machiavelli (1469-1527)Renaissance Florentine Philosopher
Power to shape others' behaviorPolitical Power can be…BiologicalForming a political system and obeying is innate to human behavior.
Aristotle (384-322bc) “zoon
politikon
” – man is a “political animal.
He meant we live naturally in herds and we array ourselves into ranks of leaders and followers, like all heard animalsSlide4
Political Power
Psychological
Milgram studyAdministration of shocks to a victim
Students surrendered to authority of professor to administer progressively larger electric shocks to “victims.”Most people are naturally conformists “groupthink”Especially true with public opinion. Follow the masses.Cultural
Behavior is learned; "nature vs. nurture."
Holds that bad behavior can be unlearned and society improved, though slow change.Slide5
Political Power
Rational
People know what they wantClassical political theorists Hobbes and LockePower to reason tells us civic society is better than anarchy
Foundation of our government – We have the right to throw off such governmentsPeople make rational judgments all the time based on new infoIrrational
Because people are emotional and politically dominated by emotion.
"Feed people myths to control them.” – Brainwashing in communist nationsSlide6
What Is Political Science?
1.2 Justify the claim that political science may be considered a science.
Differs from "politics"
Many find politics distasteful.Political scientists are like biologists who study a disease-causing bacterium.
Do not "like" bacterium like people hate politics
Interest in how it grows, does damage, etc.
Study human behavior in a political context to understand, not to like or dislikeSlide7
The Master Science
Aristotle
Founder of the discipline and called it the "master science” because it relates to other social sciences
Politics is the study of "who gets what" (Lasswell)Funding, tax or program distribution
Almost everything is political.
Economics especially
But family, business, work, school as wellSlide8
Can Politics Be Studied as a Science?
* Treating political science like natural science
Physics, chemistry, geology &biologyWith a hypotheses
Quantify data – numbersBut Large areas of politics are not quantifiable like how and why leaders make decisions.Bismarck (19th
century he unified Germany) “Laws & sausages” – better not to see how they’re made
* Political Science is therefore an Empirical discipline
Accumulates quantified and qualitative dataSlide9
Hallmarks of Scholarship
Reasoned
Stated purpose minimizes bias
Webber (1864-1920) beware of structuring study to fit views
Balanced
Acknowledge
there are other ways of looking at
something
Supported with evidence
Qualitative, quantitative
& public (primary/secondary sources)
Primary and secondary sources
Theoretical
Connected to a broader theoretical
pointSlide10
What Good Is
Political Science?
Pushing one's political views to the side
Not being so partisan in the first placeObjective and complex analysis without bias, popularity, or simplification.
Can warn those in office that all is not well, thus contributing to good governmentSlide11
The Subfields of Political Science
U.S. Politics – institutions and processes
Comparative Politics – studying other nations politicsInternational Relations – relationships among nationsPolitical Theory – attempts to define good polity
Public Administration – how bureaucracies workConstitutional Law – Application of social contractPublic Policy – the development of effective programsSlide12
Theories
Theories are NOT facts. They are simply suggestions on how facts should be organized
BEHAVIORALISMClaimed to concentrate on actual behavior as opposed to thoughts or feelingsPOSITIVISM
Developed by French Philosopher Auguste Compte
Society can be studied scientifically and
incrimentally
improved with the knowledge gainedSlide13
Theories
SYSTEMS THEORY
"Political systems" model devised by David EastonSystems as entities similar to living organismsPolitics of a given country work like a feedback loop
Citizen "inputs" recognized by decision makers who process them into "output" decisions and actions.Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia do not fit the systems model.Slide14
Figure 1.1 A model of the political system
.Slide15
Figure 1.2
A modified model of the political system.Slide16
Theories
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
Argue that one can predict political behavior by knowing interests of actors involvedThis is how we KNOW how some states will vote during presidential elections
Politicians take positions on issues they KNOW will give them the biggest payoff.Slide17
The Normative Study of Politics (1 of 2)
Aristotle was the first empirical political scientist.
Constructed Politics, which combined descriptive and normative approaches.
Normative – Explaining what ought to beDescriptive – Explaining what is.Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Realist who argued for rationality and toughness in exercising power
Working with the world as it isSlide18
The Contractualists
(1 of 2)
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)The first modern philosopher to articulate a detailed contract theory
"State of nature" before civil society was founded was bad.People would prefer a bad monarch over anarchy.John Locke (1632-1704)
Original state of nature was not bad but property was insecure.
Rights to life, liberty, and propertySlide19
The Contractualists
(2 of 2)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)"Noble savages" in the state of nature
Social ContractGeneral willWhat everyone wants over selfish needsIn a just societySlide20
Marxist Theories (1 of 3)
Things do not happen by accident.
Spiritual ZeitgeistEconomics"Surplus value" goes to capitalist owners.
Overworking, under-purchasing proletariat results in overproduction and depressions.Slide21
Marxist Theories (2 of 3)
Social class
Small class of those with means to productionLarge class of those who work for the small classBourgeoisie obsessed with hanging on to property
Cause war because of need for economic gainProletariat has no country, but rather shared suffering under capitalistsSlide22
Marxist Theories (3 of 3)
History
Led to tyranny and failure in Communist countriesStill interesting and useful in a system of analysisContributions
Societies are never fully unified and peaceful.We must always ask, "Who benefits?" in political controversy.Capitalism has not collapsed due to its flexible nature.
Marx missed the point that capitalism is not one simplified system.