POLS 2310 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: De Facto, Logical Positivism, Traditional Authority
Document Summary
Definition of politics: who gets what when and how. Areas of interest in political science: international relations, american public policy, comparative politics, political sociologies. The concept of positivism: the view that politics can by studied through the methods of natural science. More extreme form of positivism is called logical positivism. Only those things that are observable are legitimate to study. Scientific method of analysis: start with a theory, use theory to make and test predictions, and then you drive a specific type of a hypothesis, should is not part of a hypothesis, understanding, explanation, generalization, prediction, control. Independent variable / dependent variable: independent variables are the cause, dependent variable are the effects. Definitions of state, government, civil society: state- country highest form of constitution (army, police, branches of government). Stay stable on some cases: government subside of the state, civil society- outside the state private institutions. (business, religious groups)
