Politics and Knowledge

Chapter OnePearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman © 2011

On Politics

• Politics is defined in a variety of ways:– Exercise of power– Determination of who gets what, when, and how– Public allocation of things that are valued– Resolution of conflict– Competition among individuals and groups pursuing their

own interests– Overall:

• Politics is the process through which power and influence are used in the promotion of certain values and interests

Types of Political Knowledge

• Political analysis– The attempt to describe and then to explain politics– It seeks to answer the “what,” “how,” and “why” questions

• Political science– A set of techniques, concepts, and approaches whose

objective is to increase the clarity and accuracy of our understandings about the political world

• Three general types of political knowledge:– Description – Explanation– Prescription

Sources of Political Knowledge

• Three important sources of political knowledge:– Authority

• Specific authority sources• General authority sources• “Everyone” as authority• Problems

– Personal thought• Rationality• Intuition• Personal experience• Problems

– Science

Sources of Political Knowledge: Science

• Four essential characteristics of the scientific method:– Entails a search for regularities in the

relationships among phenomena– Is empirical in that it is concerned with

phenomena that can be observed, or at least measured

– Is cumulative in nature– Is testable

Political Knowledge of Different Age Groups: Applying the Scientific Method to Politics

Political Science

• Comparative politics• American politics• International relations• Political theory• Boundary-spanning hybrids

– Political anthropology

– Political economy

– Political psychology

– Political sociology

– Biopolitics

Political Science and Political Knowledge

• Some argue that political science is not a real “science”

• Do politics and science go together? Are generalizations possible?– Debate in 1

Political Science as a Means of Understanding the Political World

• Desirable to use systematic and analytic thinking• Importance of shared knowledge

– We need methods to reach some interpersonal agreement about political facts

• Enables us to develop: – Better concepts– Improved methods– Sound generalizations