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On Defining Politics and How to Take it into Account

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2020

Avery Leiserson
Avery Leiserson*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Emeritus
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Extract

This essay addresses the problem of teachers and students who have reached the point of trying to find a common ground for perceiving (seeing) politics. This may occur almost any time during any social science course, but it cannot be assumed to happen automatically the first day of class in government, citizenship, or public affairs. Hopefully, the signal is some variant of the question: “What do we mean by politics, or the political aspect of human affairs?” A parade of definitions — taking controversial positions on public policy issues; running for elective office; who gets what, when and how; and manipulating people—is not a mutually-satisfying answer if it produces the Queen of Hearts’ attitude in students that the word politics means what they choose it to mean and nothing more.

Type
Research Article
Information
News for Teachers of Political Science , Volume 37 , Spring 1983 , pp. 13
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1983

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References

1 Piaget, J., p. 16, in U.N.E.S.C.O., Recent Trends in the Social Sciences. Paris: Mouton, 1970Google Scholar; Ziman, J., Public Knowledge: The Social Dimension of Science. Cambridge University Press, 1968, pp. 8–12.Google Scholar

2 Dahl, R. A., After the Revolution, What? Yale University Press, 1971.Google Scholar

3 There are three categories of restraints over public officials’ authority and powers: (1) traditional, customary, and moral; (2) formal: constitutional and legal; (3) informal-legal, extralegal, and pragmatic — the de facto influence of prestigious, important individuals and groups.

4 Crick, B., In Defence of Politics. Penguin Books, 1962.Google Scholar

5 Merriam, C. E., The Role of Politics in Social Change. New York University Press, 1936Google Scholar, ch. 2.