Behaviouralism
Partly as a reaction against the traditional approaches and partly in search of more ‘Scientific’ knowledge about politics, political scientists have in recent times come out with a variety of approaches. The first breakthrough came with the emergence of the ‘behavioural movement’ in political science.
Behaviouralism, or the behavioural approach to the analysis and explanation of political phenomena, is particularly associated with the work of American political scientists after the Second World War, but its origins can be traced back to the works of Graham Wallas (Human Nature in Politics) and Arthur Bentley (The Process of Government), both published as early as 1908. Both Wallas and Bentley were inclined to lay greater emphasis on the informal processes of politics and less on political institutions in isolation. Wallas sought to introduce a New Realism in political studies in light of new findings of Contemporary Psychology. The new psychology had revealed that man was not a rational creature and that his political actions were not totally guided by reason and self interest. Wallas therefore insisted on exploring facts and evidence for understanding human nature and its manifestations in human behaviour.
Arthur Bentley, on the other hand, a pioneer of group approach to politics, primarily sought not to describe political activity, but to provide for new tools of investigation. Greatly inspired by Sociology, he proceeded to undertake a study of the role of pressure groups, political parties, elections and public opinion in the political process.
Charles E Merriam was another pioneer of behavioural approach. He is also famous as the founder of the ‘Chicago School’ which made substantial contribution to the behavioural movement. In the article ‘The Present State of The Study Of Politics’ published in American political science review (1921) and in his book ‘New Aspects of Politics’ (1925) Merriam criticized contemporary political science for its lack of scientific rigour. In his presidential address to American ‘Political Science Association’ (1925) Merriam exhorted political scientists to look at political behaviour as one of the essential objects of inquiry.
George E. Catlin in his ‘Science and Method of Politics’ (1927) advanced the case for a value-free pure science. He treated ‘power’ as essence of politics and argued that analysis of power should not be inclined in favour of any particular value-system.
Harold d. lasswell, (1902-78) his celebrated work ‘Politics: Who Gets What, When and How’ (1936) proved to be a landmark in the empirical approach to politics as the study and analysis of power.
Despite these early attempts, Behaviouralism in political science was systematically developed only after the Second World War, particularly through the writings of American Political Scientists. David B. Truman, Robert Dahl, Evron M.kirkpatrick, David Easton, Heinz Eulau etc. are the most prominent personalities of Behavioural movement in political science.
Behaviouralism as such came to be understood as something wider than the study of political behaviour, yet political behaviour was its main focus. Behaviouralism as a movement in political science did not remain confined to the study of individual based political behaviour, but developed into a set of orientations, procedures and methods of analysis. In practice it embraced all that lends a scientific character to the modern political science. According to David Easton, the intellectual foundations of Behaviouralism consist of eight major tenets.
Regularities: Discoverable uniformities in political behaviour which can be expressed in theory like statements.
Verification: Validity of such theory like statements can be verified.
Techniques: Means for acquiring and interpreting data.
Quantification: Precision in the recording of data.
Values: Objective scientific inquiry has to be value free or value neutral.
Systematization: Close interrelationship between theory and research.
Pure Science: Directed towards forging a link between theoretical understanding of politics and application of theory to practical problem- solving.
Integration: Integration of political science with other social sciences.
Thus Behaviouralism came to accord primacy to higher degree of reliability vis-à-vis higher degree of generality. In short, Behaviouralism focussed on micro level situations rather than attempting macro level generalizations.
Partly as a reaction against the traditional approaches and partly in search of more ‘Scientific’ knowledge about politics, political scientists have in recent times come out with a variety of approaches. The first breakthrough came with the emergence of the ‘behavioural movement’ in political science.
Behaviouralism, or the behavioural approach to the analysis and explanation of political phenomena, is particularly associated with the work of American political scientists after the Second World War, but its origins can be traced back to the works of Graham Wallas (Human Nature in Politics) and Arthur Bentley (The Process of Government), both published as early as 1908. Both Wallas and Bentley were inclined to lay greater emphasis on the informal processes of politics and less on political institutions in isolation. Wallas sought to introduce a New Realism in political studies in light of new findings of Contemporary Psychology. The new psychology had revealed that man was not a rational creature and that his political actions were not totally guided by reason and self interest. Wallas therefore insisted on exploring facts and evidence for understanding human nature and its manifestations in human behaviour.
Arthur Bentley, on the other hand, a pioneer of group approach to politics, primarily sought not to describe political activity, but to provide for new tools of investigation. Greatly inspired by Sociology, he proceeded to undertake a study of the role of pressure groups, political parties, elections and public opinion in the political process.
Charles E Merriam was another pioneer of behavioural approach. He is also famous as the founder of the ‘Chicago School’ which made substantial contribution to the behavioural movement. In the article ‘The Present State of The Study Of Politics’ published in American political science review (1921) and in his book ‘New Aspects of Politics’ (1925) Merriam criticized contemporary political science for its lack of scientific rigour. In his presidential address to American ‘Political Science Association’ (1925) Merriam exhorted political scientists to look at political behaviour as one of the essential objects of inquiry.
George E. Catlin in his ‘Science and Method of Politics’ (1927) advanced the case for a value-free pure science. He treated ‘power’ as essence of politics and argued that analysis of power should not be inclined in favour of any particular value-system.
Harold d. lasswell, (1902-78) his celebrated work ‘Politics: Who Gets What, When and How’ (1936) proved to be a landmark in the empirical approach to politics as the study and analysis of power.
Despite these early attempts, Behaviouralism in political science was systematically developed only after the Second World War, particularly through the writings of American Political Scientists. David B. Truman, Robert Dahl, Evron M.kirkpatrick, David Easton, Heinz Eulau etc. are the most prominent personalities of Behavioural movement in political science.
Behaviouralism as such came to be understood as something wider than the study of political behaviour, yet political behaviour was its main focus. Behaviouralism as a movement in political science did not remain confined to the study of individual based political behaviour, but developed into a set of orientations, procedures and methods of analysis. In practice it embraced all that lends a scientific character to the modern political science. According to David Easton, the intellectual foundations of Behaviouralism consist of eight major tenets.
Regularities: Discoverable uniformities in political behaviour which can be expressed in theory like statements.
Verification: Validity of such theory like statements can be verified.
Techniques: Means for acquiring and interpreting data.
Quantification: Precision in the recording of data.
Values: Objective scientific inquiry has to be value free or value neutral.
Systematization: Close interrelationship between theory and research.
Pure Science: Directed towards forging a link between theoretical understanding of politics and application of theory to practical problem- solving.
Integration: Integration of political science with other social sciences.
Thus Behaviouralism came to accord primacy to higher degree of reliability vis-à-vis higher degree of generality. In short, Behaviouralism focussed on micro level situations rather than attempting macro level generalizations.
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