Danziger: Part I Prepared and Presented by Angela Oberbauer ©2011What is Politics? A Process in which Individuals and Groups exercise “power” to make change!Sources of Political KnowledgeWhat is Political Science?Danziger, Chapter 2 Political Theory & Political BeliefsNormative Political TheoryBelief Systems of Mass PublicsBelief Systems of ElitesPolitical CulturePolitical Ideology/Political Belief SystemsKarl Marx’s Conceptionalization of IdeologyMarx’s explanation of “Social Reality”“Social Reality”, continuedFriedrich Engels’ “False Consciousness”Causes for the Rise of IdeologiesRise of Ideologies, continuedcontinuedSlide 18Slide 19Functions of IdeologiesDanziger, Chapter 3: Political ActionsPolitical Actions, continuedDanziger, Chapter 4: Influences on Beliefs and ActionsFour broad types of explanatory factors that might account for individual political behavior, continued.Danziger: Part I Prepared and Presented byAngela Oberbauer ©2011Politics and KnowledgeWhat is Politics? A Process in which Individuals and Groups exercise “power” to make change!•Types Of Political Knowledge:1. Description political knowledge focus onwhat, and descriptive response based onfacts.2. Explanation answers why, and require adequate explanation of information.3. Prescription is your value judgment.Sources of Political Knowledge 1.Authority involves respect to authority sources: specific, general, or everyone.2.Personal Thought involves exercising: rationale, Intuition, and personal experience.3.Science uses explicit methods to describe and explain by (1) search for regularities; (2)empirically observe phenomena; (3)cumulate previous established knowledgeas foundation for further knowledge development; (4)new knowledge must be testable/verifiable.What is Political Science? •Political Science attempts to understand and explain the political world, by developing concepts, improved methods of science, to use systematic and analytic thinking to reduce our misunderstandingsand misconceptions of political issues.Danziger, Chapter 2Political Theory & Political BeliefsPolitical Behavior, or Micropolitics: Is A combinationof an Individuals, Groups, families, committees, and juries political beliefs are cumulative reactions and orientations toward political phenomena.Normative Political Knowledge: Are the fundamental ideas that can be the basis of an individual’s beliefs and actions. 1. Political Ideologies: Prevalent in Western Political Thought. (pp. 31--42)2. Individual Political Beliefs: basic elements of an individual’s political belief, grounded in a person’s orientations/dimensions toward the political world.3. Political Belief System: The configurations of beliefs held by individuals. (p. 45) 4. Political Culture: Dominant patterns of political behavior for an entire society. (p. 48)Normative Political Theory•Answers that reflect various approaches for thinking about core questions about Government, society, social obligation, individual obligation.•Theorists, and Politcal Ideologies:•Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) in [Danziger, Chapter 2]•Conservatism•Classical Liberalism•Socialism•Marxist-Leninist Socialism•Democratic Socialism•Further Political “Isms” [ibid]Belief Systems of Mass Publics1. Political issues have low salience.2. People focus attention on concrete issues,have minimal grasp of abstract political concepts, and don’t have constraint knowledge.3. Interest/knowledge is short-term.4. Fundamental beliefs are stable, but can bevolatile in short-term political opinions.5. Content of beliefs is often inaccurate.Belief Systems of Elites1. Have relatively high levels of interest and involvement in political life; hold positions of political responsibility.2. Elites communicate their beliefs to others.3. They influence the Mass Publics.4. Have relatively high levels of “constraint knowledge,” accuracy, complexity.5. Emphasis is on consistency. However, Elites can have conflicting opinions among themselves.Political CultureIs the configuration of a particular society’spolitical orientations -- the general beliefsystem of many:The American Political Culture believes in:liberties, rights, political equality, individualism, capitalism, property, universal suffrage, democracy, equal opportunity, and pluralism.Political Ideology/Political Belief SystemsAre an individual’s comprehensive set of beliefs about thepolitical world.(Rejai 1995, pp. 4-11). Rejai’s five important dimensions:1. Cognitive: knowledge and belief2. Affective: feelings and emotions3. Evaluative: norms and judgments4. Programmatic: the plans and taking action5. Social base: mobilization of supporting groups and forming the political party.Karl Marx’s Conceptionalization of IdeologyHow does Marx analyze ideology?Marx says ideology is an intellectual activity, an idea system.What does Marx say about an idea system?Marx insists that an idea system is only derivative, secondary, and false, and explains his theory through “social reality”.Marx’s explanation of “Social Reality”Society is broken down into two “structures”:I. The Substructure contains:--All material, economic foundation of society, including: “The Owning Class”,(which is the “Ruling Class”), and it alsocontains “The Non-owning Class” (the oppressed and exploited “proletariat.”Marx suggests that the “Substructure” is the most important aspect of a society and gives rise to the “Superstructure”.“Social Reality”, continuedII.The Superstructure:--consists of all other elements of society:art, culture, religion, social and politicalinstitutions such as government, education,and it also consists of “ideologies”.Therefore, Marx suggests that the “Superstructure” has no independent reality, and only mirrors the ideas and philosophies set down by the “Ruling Class” within the “Substructure,” thereby, ideologies are “derivative, secondary, and false.”Friedrich Engels’ “False Consciousness”Engels suggests that the “Ruling Class” onlypretend sincere consciousness toward the“Non-ruling,” and that the “ideologies and actions”the Ruling deliberately promulgate through theirbelief systems are indeed falsehoods set down forthe purpose to control the “oppressed and non-rulingClass.” Further, Engels points out that these ideologies are there only to benefit the Ruling Class.Causes for the