Comprehensive Political Science & Justice Theories Overview

Distributive Justice

Concerns the fair allocation of resources and benefits within society.

Procedural Justice

Focuses on the fairness of the process used to make decisions, like legal proceedings.

Retributive Justice

Emphasizes punishment for wrongdoing, aiming to 'pay back' the offender.

Restorative Justice

Seeks to repair harm caused by crime through reconciliation and dialogue between the victim and perpetrator.

Realism

Emphasizes the competitive and conflictual side of international relations, focusing on power and national interest.

Liberalism

Highlights cooperation and interdependence among states, advocating for international institutions and norms.

Constructivism

Focuses on the role of ideas, beliefs, and identities in shaping international relations and state behavior.

Political Socialization

The process by which individuals acquire political beliefs, values, and behaviors through family, education, peers, and media.

Political Participation

Actions taken by individuals to influence political decisions, including voting, protesting, lobbying, and activism.

Public Opinion

The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs about political issues, leaders, institutions, or events.

Political Efficacy

A citizen's belief in their ability to influence political processes (internal efficacy) or that the system will respond to their input (external efficacy).

Voter Turnout

The percentage of eligible voters who participate in an election.

Partisanship

Loyalty to a political party, often shaping political behavior and decision-making.

Ideology

A system of beliefs and values that shapes an individual's views on political and social issues (e.g., liberalism, conservatism).

Political Identity

An individual's sense of belonging to a political group based on shared characteristics, such as race, class, religion, or ideology.

Civic Engagement

Active participation in community or public affairs, often seen as broader than political engagement.

Electoral Systems

The methods by which votes are counted and translated into political power (e.g., proportional representation, first-past-the-post).

Swing Voter

A voter who does not consistently support one political party and may change preferences across elections.

Incumbency Advantage

The electoral edge afforded to those already in office due to factors like name recognition and access to resources.

Gerrymandering

The manipulation of electoral district boundaries for political advantage.

Voter Suppression

Actions or policies that intentionally reduce or inhibit voter turnout among certain groups.

Cognitive Dissonance

The discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs or behaving in ways inconsistent with one's beliefs.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out information that supports preexisting beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Framing Effect

The influence of how information is presented on individuals' perceptions and decisions.

Priming

The process by which exposure to certain issues or cues affects political attitudes or behavior.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb used by voters to make decisions (e.g., party affiliation or candidate endorsements).

Political Polarization

The growing ideological distance and hostility between opposing political groups.

Groupthink

The tendency for members of a group to prioritize consensus over critical evaluation, potentially leading to poor decisions.

Identity Politics

Political behavior influenced by shared characteristics like race, ethnicity, gender, or religion.

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency of respondents to provide socially acceptable answers rather than truthful ones, particularly in surveys.

Collective Action Problem

The difficulty of organizing individuals to achieve a common goal due to free-rider problems.

Political Opportunity Structure

The external factors, such as institutional arrangements or shifting power dynamics, that affect the success of social movements.

Grassroots Mobilization

Political activism initiated and carried out by ordinary citizens rather than organizations or elites.

Social Capital

The networks, norms, and trust that enable collective political action.

Agenda-Setting

The media's ability to influence the importance placed on issues by the public.

Echo Chamber

An environment in which individuals are exposed only to information or opinions that reinforce their own beliefs.

Fake News

Deliberately false or misleading information intended to deceive, often with political motivations.

Media Framing

The way media outlets shape the presentation of a political issue, influencing public perception.

Sampling Bias

A distortion in survey results due to non-representative sampling.

Regression Analysis

A statistical method for estimating the relationships between variables.

Correlation vs. Causation

Correlation refers to a relationship between two variables, while causation indicates one variable directly influences the other.

Ethnography

A qualitative research method involving in-depth study of people's behavior in their natural environment.

Survey Experiment

An experimental design embedded in a survey to test causal relationships.

Rational Choice Theory

The idea that individuals act based on a rational calculation of self-interest.

Social Identity Theory

Explains political behavior as influenced by group membership and intergroup dynamics.

Resource Mobilization Theory

Focuses on the importance of resources like money, organization, and leadership in facilitating political movements.

Prospect Theory

Describes how people make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, often valuing losses more heavily than gains.

Civic Culture

A political culture characterized by active participation, trust in institutions, and civic engagement.