POL 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Chale, David Easton
17 Oct 2014
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Document Summary
Politics is a system: black box is government, inputs (into the box), outputs (public policy). Pressures going in, decisions being made, and policies coming out. Structural-functionalism (gabriel allen: need to know what something"s function was in politics. Broaden the scope of the discipline: explored the politics in different countries and cultures, some are better suited to democracy than others, modern political culture has become more quantitative, surveys and statistical analysis. Tried to expand the views of politics around the world. Economic forces are what shape politics: not independent from economics. Best known approach by karl marx: nature of economic relationships at home and around the world allow you to understand politics, marginalize the autonomy of politics. Basic assumption that things happen for a reason: people wanted them to happen. Individuals are rational beings: do what"s best for them, cost benefit analysis before making decisions, rational, self maximizing individuals.
