POLS 207 1nd Edition Lecture 2Outline of Last Lecture I. Professor Tucker’s Contact InfoII. Supplemental InstructionIII. Political Beliefs VS. Political FactsOutline of Current Lecture I. Political actors, commentators, and scientists II. Skill Development Goals of POLS 207III. Statements that seem to contradict each other can all be true or correct IV. Most important ideas in the courseV. Change of the Texas demographic VI. Definition of PoliticsVII. Tucker on Politics Current LectureI. What are their goals and how do they use political facts? a. Political Actors i. Acquire and retain political power ii. Telling the whole truth or all the facts may not help political actors achieve their goal. b. Commentators i. They are in the entertainment industry. ii. Political commentators are trying to promote themselves, so telling the whole truth may not help. c. Political Scientists i. Try to put things into perspective ii. They tell the facts, (the whole truth,) which can make you sadder. II. Skill Development Goals of POLS 207a. You are not memorizing facts, you are developing skills.b. To understand what others are saying or writing, even when it is boring. c. Distinguish between beliefs and facts. i. Facts are more reliable ii. However, facts may not change someone’s beliefs. d. Assess what others are saying i. Information completeness and context ii. Use and misuse of informationThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.1. Taking information out of contextiii. Conclusions e. Dr. Tucker won’t contradict the book, just update it. f. You can predict the wording of the questions on the exams i. Look at the book ii. Section headings tell you the topics.III. Statements that seem to contradict each other can all be true or correcta. Sum of percent employed and percent unemployed must be 100%, yet employment can increase while unemployment increases. i. Unemployment is percent of those seeking employment while not having a job. b. The Texas state budget can be balanced and have a $4.3billion deficit at the sametime. i. The budget is JUST the plan! IV. Most important ideas in the course:a. Winning vs. losing b. Individuals vs. groups i. What the group wants is not the same as what all the individuals wantc. Today vs. tomorrow i. Change over timed. Motivated vs. scientific use of informationi. Out-of-context/incorrect data v. contextual/correct dataV. Change of Texas demographic a. Texas today – 50% Anglo b. Texas population when you are your parent’s age – more than 50% Hispanic c. By 2040, Hispanics will be a much larger percentage than Anglos VI. Definitions of Politics a. Politics is concerned with the authoritative allocation of values (Easton). i. Shows that it is more than the authoritative allocation of valuesii. Other people get to decide the values iii. This definition came first; very well received b. Political endeavor seeks to bring about a maximum degree of change in the opposing group with a minimum of change in one’s own group (Deutsch). VII. Tucker on Politics (A VALUE DEFINITION) a. It is better to win big than to win small.b. It is better to win small than to lose small. c. It is better to lose small than to lose