PSC 101 – Introductory
Discussion
Defining “politics” and “government”
• Everyday uses of “politics” and “political”
• Negative stereotypes of politicians
• Relationship between politics and government
---Can one have politics without government?
• ---Can one have government without politics?
(The Progressive Movement 1880s-1920s)
• ---”Playing politics” vs. “getting things done”
• ---”Playing politics” vs. “doing the right thing”
Your textbook’s definitions of politics
and government
• Politics: “individual and collective efforts to
influence the workings of government”
--David Easton’s model of the political system
--Does “politics” exist in nondemocratic
countries? In hierarchical organizations?
--Different definitions of “influence”: persuasion,
coercion, bargaining
• Government: “the institutions that have the
authority and capacity to enforce public policies
(rules) for a specific territory and people”
Where does government get its
authority and capacity?
• Your book’s answer: near-monopoly of force
• Where else does government get its authority
from? (Legitimacy?)
• --the democratic process
--religion?
• --habit?
• --family ties?
• --rationality?
Why is government necessary? (why
is it rational to obey government)
• Theories of political obligation
• Social contract theory: Hobbes, Locke,
Rousseau
We willingly (and rationally) give up some of
our freedoms in order to protect the rest
• If not, we risk the “war of all against all”
• But why? Scarcity (material and moral) is the
key
Why is government necessary cont’d
• 1.) Conflict over scarce resources
• 2.) Conflict over “scarce” or “irreconcilable”
values
• ---Attempts to compromise: Roe v. Wade, civil
unions for gays
• 3.) Even in the absence of overt conflict, there
are “collective goods” to be provided, which are
vulnerable to the ‘free rider’ problem (collective
action problem) – nuclear defense, paved roads
Why govt. is necessary cont’d
• Debates between libertarians and others are
about which things (education, roads, police,
health care) are truly “collective goods” that
the market does not sufficiently provide
• 4.) Even in the absence of “collective action”
problems, we still have “coordination
problems” (ex. Restaurants, Habitat homes,
Katrina, Haiti, oil spill) – someone must be in
charge
How political scientists study politics
and government
• Political scientists do not have a monopoly on the
study of politics!
• How is their approach distinctive?
---Emphasis on causality rather than description
---Emphasis on forming generalizations (theories) that
operate across time and space (Sarah Palin example)
• ---Emphasis on replicability, which includes precision in
concepts and measurement
• ---SOME SAY (not all PSCists agree) that it’s an
emphasis on empirical, rather than normative
questions
Correlation is not causation, but it’s a
good start!
•
•
•
•
•
•
We can’t do experiments very easily
So we rely on observing correlations
But watch out for
---multivariate explanations
---indirect causation
---and worst of all, spurious correlations!
(ice cream consumption and crime rates,
homeownership and political participation)
US Political Culture
• What is political culture?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
---Book definition
---Political culture
↓
---Political ideology
↓
---Attitudes on particular
issues
As we go down, we go from most
consensual/ambiguous/general to most controversial/specific
US Political Culture
• --As universal as it is within US, US political
culture distinguishes us from other societies
• ------foreign observer literature
• --How can a country diverse as US have a
common political culture?
• CONTENTS OF US POLITICAL CULTURE
1.) Equality as unifying theme
equality of opportunity v. equality of result
2.) Individualism: self-reliance,
nonconformism, “lone wolf” as hero
US Political Culture
• 3.) Liberty
---positive v. negative liberty
---paternalistic legislation?
4.) Property rights – major role of govt. in
“free market” economy is to protect ‘em
• 5.) Religion
--free exercise, no established religion
--yet religion taken very seriously, compared
to other industrial societies!
Why These Five Elements?
• 1.) Lasting imprint of US’ “formative
years” (settlement, colonial and
revolutionary periods)
• 2.) Self-selection (emigration,
immigration)
• 3.) Reinforcement: political campaigns,
education system, popular culture
Present-Day Consequences of US
Political Culture
• 1.) Continued antipathy toward government
(and authority and politics in general)
• 2.) Lack of finality in policy decisions
• 3.) Class conflict (hence socialist attitudes)
much more muted than in other societies
• 4.) Even communitarian policies must be
justified and advocated in individualistic terms
(e.g. Social Security in the 1930s)