The study of politics : a short survey of core approaches / Greg Pyrcz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pyrcz, Greg.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--Textbooks.

Political science.

Genre:

Textbooks.

Physical Description:

213 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Tonawanda, N.Y. : University of Toronto Press, [2011]

Summary:

The Study of Politics explores and addresses the implications of committing to specific principles and methodologies in political science research, while offering balanced assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Pyrcz also considers the assumptions regarding human agency inherent to each approach and attends more generally to the state of political science as a discipline.

Readers will gain a strong foundation in theoretical work and a greater appreciation for its practical value. The Study of Politics both challenges and enables student of politics and government to conduct research with a deeper awareness of the intellectual traditional underlying their work. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction to the Study of Politics 1

The Origins of the Discipline 5

The Language of Politics: Power, Influence, Legitimacy, and Authority 8

Folk Theories of Political Agency 11

Sources of Political conduct 13

Five Modes of Inquiry 16

The Normative in Political Studies 19

A Taxonomy of Core Approaches 21

Conclusion 24

Further Reading 25

2 Three Traditional Approaches 27

Regime Theory 28

Analytical Philosophy 48

Conclusion 54

Further Reading 55

3 The Science of Political Studies 57

Institutionalism 58

Group Theory 65

Power Theory 72

Structural Functionalism 79

Systems theory 87

Rational Choice theory 95

Behaviouralism 103

Sociobiology 110

Conclusion 112

Further Reading 113

4 Interpretive Political Studies 117

Textual Analysis 121

(Political) Cultural Studies 128

Linguistic structuralism 135

Interpretive Psychoanalysis 138

Conclusion 141

Further Reading 143

5 Critical Political Studies 145

Structualist Marxism 147

Critical Psychoanalysis: The Frankfurt School and Existentialist Psychology 155

Feminist Analysis 163

Critical Race Theory 169

Postmodernism 174

Critical Ecology 181

Conclusion 185

Further Reading 186

6 A Short conclusion 189

Intellectual Pluralism 190

Hybrid approaches 191

Multidisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity 193

Narrowing the Discipline 195

Other Lines of Response 197

A Little More Pedagogy 198.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781442601437

1442601434

OCLC:

689506890