POL 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Philosophy, Charismatic Authority, Common Good
14 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Introduction to Politics - Notes
o Understanding Politics:
o What is politics?
o According to some political scientists politics is the subset of human behaviour
that involves the use of power or influence.
o Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
o What do you do when there is a change in your environment that is detrimental
to you?
o Albert Hirschman’s 1970’s classic: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.
o Exit - Accept that there has been a detrimental change in your environment
and alter your behaviour to achieve the best outcome possible given your new
environment.
o Voice – Use your “voice” (complain, protest, lobby, take different action) to try
to change the environment back to its original condition.
o Loyalty – Accept the fact that your environment has changed and make no
changes to your behaviour.
Example:
Exit:
Voice:
Loyalty:
Increased
workload at your
job, without pay
raise.
Quit your job.
Complain to your
boss.
Keep working
and keep your
mouth shut.
o When is Behaviour “Political”?
o Voice requires influence.
o In order to change one’s environment, one typically needs to change the
behaviour of people. So politics is involved when voice is used.
o But it’s also involved whenever voice is considered.
o The decision whether to respond with exit, voice, or loyalty is a
“political” decision.
o This means the politics doesn’t just begin when voice is chosen.
o A Definition of Politics
o In this course we will define politics more narrowly: “Politics is actively related
to influencing, making, or implementing collective decisions for a political
community” (p. 4).
o Summary
o Politics is actively related to influencing, making, or implementing collective
decisions for a political community.
o Using voice is political as it involves trying to influence others.
o Power
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Document Summary
Quit your job. workload at your job, without pay raise. Keep working and keep your mouth shut: when is behaviour political , voice requires influence, in order to change one"s environment, one typically needs to change the behaviour of people. So politics is involved when voice is used: but it"s also involved whenever voice is considered, the decision whether to respond with exit, voice, or loyalty is a. * important concept: example: tutorial groups with fun discussions and organized people. But one person starts doing less and less work or doesn"t care as much. Trying to generalize specific statements and compare them to all of politics. Political theory is involved with these types of questions: policy analysis combines both of the above. Evaluates existing policies and determines possible changes: why study political science, 1 in 5 canadians work in government agencies.
