Political Science

Two Dominant Schools of Thought Traditionalism versus Behavioralism

Historical OriginsTraditional approach has its roots in the

normative, philosophical tradition dating back to Plato and Aristotle

Study of collection of major political thinkers; their ideas are constitutive parts of “canonical” political thought

Normative dimension central: the prescription of values and standards of conduct; what ‘should be’ rather than ‘what is.’

Questions: Why do we need gov’t? What is individual freedom and what should be its limits?

Historical OriginsEmpirical tradition was combined with

normative approach; Aristotle’s taxonomy of constitutions; Machiavelli’s realist account of statecraft; Montesquieu’s sociological theory of government and law

Empirical: based on observation and experiment; empirical knowledge is derived from sense data and experience

Empiricism: belief that experience is the only basis of knowledge and that all hypothesis and theories should be tested by a process of observation

Empiricism fostered PositivismPositivism: an intellectual movement

(Auguste Comte) that claimed that all social science and philosophical inquiry should strictly adhere to the methods of the natural sciences.

The advent of modern science and the scientific method became a widely embraced methodology; advocates proclaimed it was the only reliable means of disclosing truth

Pressure and “desire” to develop a science of politics became irresistible

Positivism fostered Behavioralism

Behavioralism: the belief that social theories should be constructed only on the basis of observable behavior, providing quantifiable data for research

Developed in 1950s and 1960s in the United States

Preoccupied with objective and quantifiable data objective: external to the observer,

demonstrable; untainted by feelings, values, or

biasGave rise to the focus on the study of “human

behavior” (voting behavior, behavior of legislators, politicians, lobbyists etc.)

Neglected concepts of justice, liberty, equality, rights and other normative concerns

Assumptions of Traditionalists Politics very complexFocus on events/case studies: a country, a

particular law, a president, a war etc.Interpretation of each political event for its

own sakeEmphasis is on the normative dimension of

politics, though empirical data and assessment is importantf.ex. How well does a policy, process, institution, work?

Assumptions of TraditionalistsSources:Documents, political and

philosophical writings, governmental officials, court cases, expert opinions etc.

Qualitative over quantitative analysis: seek detailed, noncommercial information on cases

Stresses history, philosophy, and ideology

Assumptions of BehavioralistsStress scientific method; often use survey

researchFocus on regularities/patterns across set of

eventsWillingness and necessity to sacrifice detail Avoidance of moral/value judgmentsEmphasis on facts based on observations,

verificationEmphasis on abstract theories; model

themselves on other social scientists, such as economists, who analyze events as instances of general processes, treated abstractly

Test hypotheses against dataFocus on human behavior

SURVEY RESEARCH use of questionnaires and interviews closed-ended questions preferredTargets large sample of population or

population subgroup thus its breadth (scope) is broader

ability to test for statistical significance—is it possible that linkages between variables are random or incidental? Different indicators can measure degree of relationship, f.ex. Pearson’s r between +1.00 an d-1.00.

r=0 no relationship r=+1.0 perfect positive

r==.30 mild positive correlation correlation

Correlation and CausationCorrelation: a relationship in which changes

in one variable in connection with changes in another variable (the higher the income, the more likely people are to vote )

Causation: one variable causes, prompts another variable: f.ex. Direction and intensity of high winds can change the speed and direction by which an airplane approaches an airport for landing (depending on the airplane’s size and weight)