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Summary PLC2601 Notes
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STUDY UNIT 1:[1] How do we study political behaviour?
According to Gamble et al (1992):
• Traditional: concerned with values, emphasis on formal institutions and
processes, unscientific and subjective.
• Behavioural: scientific approaches, computers, numbers, statistics, charts,
graphs, emphasis on what actors do. Ignores values, false artificial precision,
methods and techniques become and end rather than means.
• Post-behavioural: concerns for values, used whatever techniques seem best.
Too concerned with subjective values, does not help the discipline to develop
further.
[2] What techniques are used to interpret data?
According to Hague et al (1998):
• Case-oriented research aims to provide a detailed description of a specific
topic.
• The comparative method also involves the study of cases-but of more than
one. They are compared to determine what similarities and differences exist
to look for explanations.
STUDY UNIT 3:
POLITICAL CULTURE AND VALUES
[3] What are the characteristics of political culture?
• The political culture is not necessarily homogenous. It has been found that
although certain common political values do exist in a society, many
subcultures are also found. Compare the Zulu-monarchy in SA.
• Subcultures may be ascribed to various causes and are the result of certain
group formations. Some subcultures are the result of ethnicity, religious
groupings, ideologies and class.
• There should be minimum political values about which there is consensus,
otherwise it would be difficult for a state to continue existing as a state and
leads to conflict.
• The political institutions should be related to the political culture of that society
to maintain political stability.
• Political culture is not the same in all states.
• Political culture is subject to change.
,[4] What are the three basic types of political culture?
According to Almond and Verba (1963):
• A parochial political culture, which there are no specialized political roles.
• Subject political culture. Here there are political roles, but the inhabitants are
passive and do not participate in political activities.
• A participatory political culture, in which the inhabitants take part actively in
political processes.
• The civic culture, which is a mix of the above three. Here there is a balance
between subject, parochial attitudes on the one side and a participatory
culture on the other.
[5] How does political culture affect our political behaviour?
• The political culture determines our political expectations, in terms of what we
regard as politically right and wrong.
• Political culture determines our political attitude, orientations and opinions and
therefore also influence our decisions to participate in politics as well as how
and when they participate.
• Political culture includes the political customs and practices and the nature of
the political system.
• Political culture gives rise to stereotypes.
• Political values will influence individuals political behaviour in terms of their
electoral choices, the forms of political action that they regard as legitimate,
their reactions towards it, general interest and their overall willingness to
participate in issues.
• A civic culture contributes to the stability and effectiveness of democracy, but
a democracy which literally delivers the goods engenders the supportive
attitudes which will sustain the political system in the future.
• The political culture also influences our attitudes towards authorities and
affect the legitimacy that a government may enjoy.
• Political culture affects political behaviour and the values and culture of
society.
STUDY UNIT 4
IDEALOGIES
[6] What are ideologies?
According to Jackson and Jackson (1997)
• Ideologies are based on the teachings of significant political thinkers and
philosophers who are searching for truth derived from first principles through
logical argument.
, • These then form he basis of a set of ideas and beliefs which stipulate what is
valued and provides the basis for an ideology.
[7] What is the basic elements and structure of an ideology?
According to Jackson and Jackson (1997)
• Claims to provide an explanation for the social, political and economic context
in which we find ourselves.
• Claims to provide an explanation for what is right and wrong in our social,
political and economic life.
• Claims to provide an ideal which will correct what is wrong in our social,
political and economic life.
• Claims to provide a programme for reaching a good society.
• Adopts a missionary vision to promote the truths and values that it claims to
adhere to and according to which the ideal way of life may be reached.
[8] Why do people follow ideologies?
• It provides simple explanations and solutions to the problems that we
encounter.
• The ideals offer hope of attaining utopia or improving our quality of life.
• It claims that sacrifices are small in comparison to the advantage that will be
obtained.
• Provides us with an instant recipe of how to make sense of the world and
helps us to make individual choices.
[9] What are the shortcomings of ideologies?
• The solutions to our problems that ideologies claim is too simplistic, where the
social, economic and political circumstances are more complex than
ideologies suggest.
• The sacrifices required by the people to establish the desired outcome of an
ideology are often immense and seldom justifiable.
• The claims made by these ideologies are not always sustained
[10] What are the different ideologies?
Two broad categories of ideologies can be distinguished, namely those that
emphasise the individual and those that emphasise society.
Liberalism
✓ Developed in western Europe in the nineteenth century to restructure an
outdated political and social order
, ✓ Enjoys widespread dominance, even more since the collapse of communism
in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe
✓ The central value is the freedom or liberty of the individual
✓ The individual is regarded as more important than the society, since society is
a collection of individuals
✓ The two mainstream schools are those of classical and modern liberalism
✓ Individualism is an important element of liberalism
✓ The liberal goal is therefore to construct a society within which individuals can
flourish and develop, each pursuing the good as he or she defines it, to the
best of his or her ability -Heywood 1997
✓ Liberals favour a free-market economy and capitalism
✓ Liberals believe that people are rational beings and believe in the individuals
ability to make wise decisions for themselves that will serve their best
interests
✓ Equality is an important principle
✓ Tolerance is another fundamental principle, because without tolerance
freedom will not be possible
✓ Liberals believe that toleration (the willingness of people to allow others to
think, speak and act in ways of which they disapprove) is both a guarantee
of individual liberty and a means of social enrichment – Heywood 1997
✓ Authority and government should be based on consent
✓ To protect the individual against the state, limitations are often placed on
powers of government – the idea of constitutionalism
✓ Satori 1962 believes that democracy is the ultimate manifestation of liberalism
✓ Classical liberalism emphasises is placed on an extreme form of individual
liberty, while the state was merely regarded as a necessary evil that should
only protect individual’s rights
✓ Modern liberalism is more tolerant of state intervention to address injustices
that may arise from the exercise of freedom and the exercise of freedom in
the economic sphere
Conservatism
✓ The basic premise is the desire to conserve or the preservation of the best in
any social and political situation
✓ Conservatism respects tradition, established customs and institutions for they
reflect wisdom that has survived the test of time
✓ Human nature is imperfect, as humans are selfish and their rationality is
limited
✓ For a society to be healthy or ideal, it is important to respect this distinction,
the masses recognise their station and its duties, deferring instinctively to the
special role that elites must play – Susser 1995
✓ Thus, authority is unavoidable and society is regarded as a whole, which is
more than the sum of the individuals hat make up the whole
✓ Traditional schools of thought are more sceptical towards free-market
economy, while liberal conservatism and the New Right are more pro-market
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