Politics and Political Science – Chapter 1 Vocabulary

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Chapter 1: Politics and Political Science.

Politics

The ongoing competition among people (usually in groups) to shape policy in their favor, whether in government or other social contexts.

Political Power

The ability of one person or group to get another to do something they would not otherwise do.

Political Science

The systematic, evidence-based study of politics that seeks objective explanations rather than partisan advocacy.

Legitimacy

A mass feeling that a government’s rule is rightful and should be obeyed.

Culture

Human behavior that is learned rather than biologically inherited; shared values, norms, and practices that shape political life.

Rational

Based on the ability to reason; assumes people act logically to maximize their interests.

Irrational

Based on the use of fear, myth, or emotion to cloud reason and manipulate behavior.

Discipline

A recognized field of study, often represented by an academic department or major.

Hypothesis

An initial theory or proposition that researchers test with evidence.

Quantify

To measure or express something with numbers for statistical analysis.

Empirical

Based on observable, verifiable evidence rather than theory or opinion.

Scholarship

Intellectual work supported by reason and evidence, aimed at producing reliable knowledge.

Institutions

The formal structures of government, such as legislatures, executives, and bureaucracies.

Positivism

The belief that society can be studied scientifically and improved incrementally through accumulated knowledge.

Behavioralism

An approach that emphasizes empirical study of actual human behavior—especially quantifiable data—over abstract theory.

Postbehavioral

A synthesis that combines traditional, behavioral, and other methods, acknowledging both facts and values.

New Institutionalism

The perspective that governmental structures take on lives of their own and shape the behavior of political actors.

Systems Theory

A model viewing politics as a set of inputs, conversion processes, outputs, and feedback within a larger environment.

Feedback Loop

The process by which governmental outputs affect the environment and generate new inputs (demands or supports) from citizens.

Rational-Choice Theory

The approach that predicts political behavior by assuming actors rationally maximize their interests within given constraints.

Game Theory

A mathematical tool that models strategic interactions, treating political decisions like competitive games with calculated payoffs.

Paradigm

A dominant model or framework guiding research within a discipline.

Descriptive (Political Science)

Explaining what is—the factual, empirical analysis of political phenomena.

Normative (Political Theory)

Explaining what ought to be—prescriptive judgments about the ideal political order.

Realism

A perspective focused on working with the world as it is, usually emphasizing power considerations over ideals.

State of Nature

A theoretical condition before civil society existed, used by contractualists to explore why governments form.

Civil Society

Human associations and community life after becoming civilized; modern usage extends to organizations between family and government.

Social Contract

The theory that individuals join and remain in civil society as if they had agreed to a binding contract.

General Will

Rousseau’s concept of the collective will of the community that represents common interests above individual desires.

Proletariat

Marx’s term for the industrial working class that sells its labor to the owners of production.

Bourgeois / Bourgeoisie

Originally ‘city-dweller’; now refers to the capitalist middle or owning class that controls the means of production.

Zeitgeist

German for ‘spirit of the times’; Hegel’s idea that each historical epoch has a distinctive guiding spirit or culture.

Surplus Value

In Marxist economics, the difference between what workers produce and what they are paid—the source of capitalist profit.