Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: David Easton, Behaviorism, Thomas Kuhn
4 Feb 2016
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Politics is something that happens in a particular space. This question deals with reactions that we have to politics. Many people dislike politics and are suspicious of politicians. Some would argue that politics should be eliminated in our lives, some are anti- politics. Definition of politics: the art of government public affairs. Approaches to the study of politics: behaviourism, ration. Politics as: that which concerns the state or government, not just who gets what, when, and how (harold lasswell) But also: the authoritative allocation of values (david easton) Authoritative values are those widely accepted in society and therefor considered binding by the mass of citizens. This means who has authority (parents over child under 18), who gets punished and how, etc. Just those who make decisions, not the civil servants who implement them. Also the parties and partisans competing for power. But parties do make good contributions to politics, parties cannot be removed from.
