Theories are designed to not only explain but also predict behavior and events. If a political scientist can predict what causes a certain event, such as warfare, it may be preventable. For example, one of the theories in Chapter 12 claims that democracies are less likely to go to war than other forms of governments. If this is true, then democracy needs to be spread throughout the world, and slowly war will disappear. This has been the cornerstone of American foreign policy since the end of World War II.
Read on to find out more on the three types of political science theories: grand, medium range, and narrow range.
Creating theories
The first step on the way to create a theory is to come up with a hypothesis. All a hypothesis is, is a testable proposition. An example: Women are more liberal than men. This is a basic proposition or proposal. Next, researchers set out to test the proposition. They collect information or data empirically — that is, based on observable evidence. In this case, they could create a public opinion survey and administer several polls in different countries. They then quantify the results, measure them with numbers, and test them. If the hypothesis proves true, they’ve created a theory. The aforementioned hypothesis, women are more liberal than men, is actually wrong. It holds true in the U.S. but is wrong in other countries, where men are more liberal.
Grand theory
Grand theories are the most prestigious and sought after. They claim to provide explanations or predictions over time and space. In other words, they claim to be universal in nature. The concept of grand theory comes from the natural sciences such as physics and chemistry. A good example is the mixing of two chemicals. After you mix the two, a certain result occurs. The result will be the same whether you mix the chemicals in Africa or Europe (space) or whether you mix the two today or in two years (time).
It’s tougher to create such theories in the social sciences such as political science or sociology. However, a few grand theories have been created in political science, and one of the most famous ones, the theory of the civic culture, states that only one specific culture can sustain democracy in the long run, and unless you create it, democracy will collapse in a country. As soon as the culture is created, democracy is here to stay in a country. It doesn’t matter where you create it (space) or when you create it (time). Therefore, it’s universal in nature and can be used to predict whether democracy can succeed in a country. See Chapter 3 for more details.
Medium-range theory
Medium-range theories claim to provide answers to questions asked a majority of the time but not all the time. Therefore, they’re not universal in nature. Medium-range theories are most often used in political behavior studies. A good example is the theory that women are more liberal than men. Although that holds true in the U.S., Great Britain, and Germany, it’s not true in France or Spain. So the theory is valid most of the time but not all the time. That makes it a medium-range theory and not grand theory, which has to be valid all the time.
Narrow-range theory
Narrow-range theories are useless in the field of political science. They’re discouraged by the field, and political scientists who use them are looked down upon. Narrow-range theories claim to occasionally provide an explanation for behavior or events. In other words, a narrow-range theory can explain an event once in a while. So if the questions are what causes war, a narrow-range theory could explain only why war can occur once in a while and not provide an explanation of why war occurs a majority of the time or all the time.
Looking at Historical Sociology
Historical sociology is one of the newer schools in political science. It traces its origins back to the 19th century but didn’t become popular until the 1960s. In the 19th century, some of the most famous social scientists, including Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber, were active, and all were historical sociologists. They based their works on historicism, believing that all academic work in the social sciences is subjective and biased, because researchers bring their own values into their research. For this reason, they were attacked by positivists who believed that the social sciences could be a true science and value-neutral.
Historical sociology understands that the present is a product of the past and can be understood only by using a historical approach. People make history under circumstances encountered from the past. A society is constructed historically by individuals who are constructed historically by society. Individuals are shaped by society, which in turn influences their thinking. Therefore, the political scientist has to focus on the historical and social period of a person to detect the true meaning behind a scholar’s work.
So what is historical sociology and how does it work? First, the social scientist looks at one or more societies and analyzes the way groups within society interact with each other. These groups can be classes, like in modern society, or castes like in more traditional societies. The way these groups interact in turn shapes form of government and policy outcomes.
For example, the way social classes interact with each other can determine what form of government a society has. Barrington Moore, Jr. demonstrates this in his classic work Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Beacon Press). His research shows that social class alliances shape governments. Whenever an aristocracy aligns itself with the peasantry, a fascist government develops. If, however, the working class aligns itself with the peasantry, socialism is the result. Finally, if an aristocracy aligns itself with the middle classes, capitalism develops.
Seeking Benefits: Rational Choice Theory
With the advent of political economy (see Chapter 13) in the 1970s, political science sees a fusing of the disciplines of political science and economics. Suddenly, research techniques from both disciplines are available to the researcher, one of them being rational choice theory. Political scientists use rational choice theory to explain human behavior and also state behavior. The theory is fairly simple: People and countries will, based on the information they have at the time, engage in actions from which they benefit the most. At the same time, they’ll also engage in actions from which they’ll lose the least. Quite simply, people, such as politicians and even countries, will do what is best for them and what will cause the least damage to them.
Chapter 3
Dealing with Political Culture
IN THIS CHAPTER
Every nation-state in the world contains one or more different cultures. A culture determines the language people speak, the religion they practice, and their behavior toward others. It’s based on the traditions found in a society and the history people have shared. At the same time, people also have a distinct political culture. A political culture is defined as a set of