DOCSLIB.ORG

Theory and Research on Metropolitan Political Leadership: Report on a Conference

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Theory and Research on Metropolitan Political Leadership: Report on a Conference SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL ITEMS VOLUME 15 " NUMBER 1 " MARCH 1961 v 230 PARK AVENUE " NEW YORK 17, N. Y. THEORY AND RESEARCH ON METROPOLITAN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: REPORT ON A CONFERENCE by David B. Truman Increased attention to the governmental problems of metropolitan reform movements, held a conference at cities and metropolitan areas in recent years has resulted Northwestern on April 1-3, 1960. The thirty persons in a large volume of descriptive and prescriptive litera- invited to participate included theoreticians and "prac- ture. Inevitably, perhaps, much research in this field has titioners" and represented not only political science proceeded without benefit of explicit theory and without and sociology, but also the law and journalism.2 Papers, concern for possible contributions to political theory. circulated in advance of the meetings, were prepared by Yet a number of conceptual or theoretical concerns are Peter H. Rossi, "Theory and Method in the Study of common to those undertakings, whatever their aims, Power in the Local Community"; Robert A. Dahl, most notably the conceptual problems involved in un- "Leadership in a Fragmented Political System: Notes derstanding and explaining patterns of political leader- for a Theory"; Herbert Kaufman, "Metropolitan Lead- ship. Whether the immediate objective has been the ership: The Snark of the Social Sciences"; and Norton formulation of new structures of metropolitan organiza- E. Long, "Some Observations Towards a Natural His- tion, theretrospective analysis of mortality among such tory of Metropolitan Politics." Each of these contribu- proposals, or the description of the operating political tions was the subject of a session of the conference; and systems of various types of urban community, the ques- a fifth session was devoted to general discussion aimed tion of how public decisions are made in and for such at identifying points of convergence or disagreement areas has made its appearance, sooner or later, openly and questions deserving future exploration. or in partial disguise. Hence it becomes appropriate, if not imperative, to inquire what kinds of conceptual 2 to Dahl, McKean, Truman, Wood, frameworks available for the of In addition Messrs. Levi, and are analysis leadership the participants in the conference were Ross C. Beiler, University of in urban settings. What are their capacities and limita- Miami; Frederic N. Cleavcland, University of North Carolina; Matthew tions? How may they be extended? Cullen, Ford Foundation; Allison Dunham, University of Chicago Law School; R. Grant, University; Scott Greer, North- To such questions as these and to encourage Daniel Vanderbilt explore western University; Charles M. Haar, Harvard Law School; Herbert explicit attempts to dealwith them, the Council's Com- Kaufman, Yale University; Maurice Klain, Western Reserve University; mittee on Political Behavior, 1 in cooperation with the Christian L. Larsen, Sacramento State College; Norton E. Long, North- Center for Metropolitan Studies at Northwestern Uni- western University; Samuel Lubell, Columbia School of Journalism; Frank Munger, Syracuse University; J. A. Norton, Cleveland Metro- versity and the Ford Foundation project for studying politan Services Western Reserve University; Nelson W. Polsby, Brookings Institution, now of the University of Wisconsin; i The members of the committee in 1959-60 were David B. Truman, Peter H. Rossi, University of Chicago; Wallace S. Sayre, Columbia Uni- Columbia University (chairman); William M. Beaney, Princeton Uni- versity; Henry J. Schmandt, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; versity; Robert A. Dahl, Yale University; Oliver Garceau and V. O. Key, George A. Shipman, University of Washington; York Willbern, Indiana Jr., Harvard University; Avery Leiserson, VanderbiltUniversity; Edward University; James Q. Wilson, University of Chicago; Robert C. Wood, H. Levi, University of Chicago; Dayton D. McKean, University of Colo- Massachusetts Institute of Technology; G. Coleman Woodbury, Uni- rado; Bryce Wood. versity of Wisconsin. 1 Commission, staff, SOCIOMETRIC STUDIES OF POWER tion: In (presumably large and heterogeneous) commu- IN THE COMMUNITY nities with well-developed political parties, whose offi- cials are normally full-time, where party lines tend to Space does not permit more than suggestions of the follow class and ethnic lines, and where the party favored highlights of thepapers, especially those points on which by the lower status groups has a good chance of electing the discussion focused. Concentrating first on research candidates to local office, the community power structure technique, Rossi reviewed existing studies of power tends to be polylithic rather than monolithic. structure under three main headings: first, studies in which a sample of the adult population of the commu- URBAN POLITICAL LEADERSFIIP nity is asked to designate its most influential citizens paper a formal analytical statement ab- ("mass sociometry"); second, studies in which individu- Dahl's was materials of his completed re- als, selected because their positions are assumed to pro- stracted from the recently in New Haven.4 After vide them with especiallyrelevant knowledge, are asked search on community leadership discussing empirical difficulties in themeasurement to designate persons or organizations holding power in some key variables to be the community ("elite sociometry"); and, third, studies of influence, he suggested that the into account in relative influence are the in which individuals whose positions have involved them taken judging with "actors" use available in a decision on a public issue are asked to identify per- rate and the efficiency which resources." Such resources include any means sonswho influenced the nature of the decision ("decision "influence deprivations upon sociometry"). Noting that the first of these techniques is of granting rewards to or imposing any means of affect- useful primarily in studying small towns or restricted participants in the political system, of participants, and urban Rossi gave most attention to the ing the expectations or cognitions neighborhoods, for second and third. Here he argued that "elite sociome- any differentially distributed opportunities employ- example, money, control of jobs, try," typified by the work of Hunter,3 is the more system- ing these. Thus, for resources, as are legitimate au- atic, although it suffers the limitations of identifying and theright to vote are control of information, and high social status. only a potential structure and in some instances the thority, in addition the time energy to use these and unnecessary handicap of concentrating on the politics of But and resources. civic committees and voluntary associations to the vir- other means are themselves and functional specialization of insti- tual exclusion of governmental processes. "Decision soci- The complexity tutions in the community have resulted in ometry," on the other hand, is more productive of in- contemporary influence resources. Hence, sights into processes of leadership, but tends to produce a fragmented distribution of view, the general of influence in a city case studies that are qualitative in character, resistant to in Dahl's pattern be one in which a generalization, and low in comparability. Suggesting that of any considerable size will either small groups have their own these limitations might be reduced, he argued in effect number of individuals or his terms, "independent sover- for the complementarity of the two techniques. "Actual spheres of influence in in—which leaders diverg- influence," he noted, "ispotential influence modified by eignties"—or one several with coalition. opportunity, interest, and decision-making machinery." ing goals and strategies act in tendency a high degree of influence over Turning to questions of theory, Rossi suggested that Any toward Dahl suggested, variations in phenomena associated with governmental most or all sectors of community policy, to group of elected public agencies and officials and in phenomena related to the is likely be associated with the ample and the and in- electorate, organized to some degree in parties and other officials who have resources skill and The tend- political associations, independently influence the type centives to use them copiously efficiently. toward a concentration of influence, wherever it of power structure in the community. He identified ency may occur, reflects the disposition of all groups to three broad types of community power structure the — their in the sphere of "monolithic," in turn divisible into either highly cen- use resources relatively sparingly public and thus for those few who employ them tralized or caucus rule by the few; the "polylithic," char- policy, to be especially influential. acterized by bargaining among separate power structures more frequently and fully "chieftains," in Dahl's view, may ap- andby professional political control oflocal government; Coalitions of elite leaders feel the need for a degree of co- and a residual "amorphous" type showing no enduring pear when these not supplied their "independent sover- pattern of power. His conception of therelation between ordination by the indicators of electoral and official phenomena and was carried out with the aid of the these types is shown in the following general proposi- i His report on this project, which Committee on Political Behavior under its program of Grants for Re- Governmental will be published by Yale sFloyd Hunter, Community
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ed 393 216 Author Title Report No Pub Date Available From
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 393 216 EA 027 482 AUTHOR Scribner, Jay D., Ed.; Layton, Donald H., Ed. TITLE The Study of Educational Politics. 1994 Commemorative Yearbook of the Politics of Education Association (1969-1994). Education Policy Perspectives Series. REPORT NO ISBN-0-7507-0419-5 PUB DATE 95 NOTE 225p. AVAILABLE FROM Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007 (paperback: ISBN-0-7507-0419-5; clothbound: ISBN-0-7507-0418-7). PUB TYPE Books (010) Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Educational Principles; Educational Sociology; Elementary Secondary Education; Feminism; Ideology; International Education; *Policy Analysis; *Policy Formation; Political Influences; *Politics of Education; Role of Education; Values ABSTRACT This book surveys major trends in the politics of education over the last 25 years. Chapters synthesize political and policy developments at local, national, and state levels in the United States, as well as in the international arena. The chapters examine the emerging micropolitics of education and policy-analysis, cultural, and feminist studies. The foreword is by Paul E. Peterson and the introduction by Jay D. Scribner and Donald H.Layton. Chapters include:(1) "Values: The 'What?' of the Politics of Education" (Robert T. Stout, Marilyn Tallerico, and Kent Paredes Scribner) ;(2) "The Politics of Education: From Political Science to Interdisciplinary Inquiry" (Kenneth K. Wong);(3) "The Crucible of Democracy: The Local Arena" (Laurence Iannaccone and Frank W.Lutz); (4) "State Policymaking and School Reform: Influences and Influentials" (Tim L. Mazzoni);(5) "Politics of Education at the Federal Level" (Gerald E. Sroufe) ;(6) "The International Arena: The Global Village" (Frances C.
    [Show full text]
  • Nlrcv20201.Pdf
    1 2020 Nancy Lipton Rosenblum Senator Joseph S. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government, Emerita Harvard University Department of Government 1731 Cambridge St. Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 [email protected] Educational Background B.A., Radcliffe College, Social Studies, 1969 Ph.D., Harvard University Political Science, 1973 Teaching Positions Chair, Department of Government, Harvard University, 2004-2010 Senator Joseph S. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government, 2001 to 2016 Faculty Fellow, Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University, 2003-4 Henry Merritt Wriston Professorship, Brown University, 1997- 2001 Chairperson, Political Science Department, Brown University, 1989-95 Professor, Brown University, 1980-2000 Liberal Arts Fellow, Harvard Law School, 1992-93 Fellow, Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, 1988-89 Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Department of Government, Fall, 1985 Associate Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University, 1977-80 Henry LaBarre Jayne Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University, 1973-77 Publications Books A Lot of People are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy”, with Russell Muirhead (Princeton University Press, 2019) 2 Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America (Princeton University Press, 2016) On the Side of the Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship (Princeton University Press, 2008) Membership and Morals: The Personal Uses of Pluralism in America (Princeton University
    [Show full text]
  • M.A POLITICAL SCIENCE SYLLABUS Course at Glance
    M.A POLITICAL SCIENCE SYLLABUS Course at Glance 1St Semester Course No. Title PSC-101 MODERN POLITICAL THEORY PSC-102 POLITICAL IDEOLOGY PSC-103 WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT-1 PSC-104 INDIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM PSC-105 INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: THEORY AND DYNAMICS 2nd Semester Course No. Title PSC-201 CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEORY: Issues and Debates PSC-202 THEORY OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS PSC-203 WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT -II PSC-204 CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ISSUES IN INDIA PSC-205 FOREIGN POLICY OF MAJOR POWERS 3rd Semester Course No. Title PSC-301 THEORY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PSC-302 THEORY OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY PSC-303 INDIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT PSC-304 HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA PSC-305 INDIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 4th Semester Course No. Title PSC-401 CHANGING DIMENSIONS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN INDIA PSC-402 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZIATION AND ADMINISTRIATION PSC-403 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PSC-404 COMPUTER BASICS: THEORY AND PRACTICE Elective CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THOUGHT PSC-405 (i) 405 (ii) LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN INDIA 405 (iii) ETHICS AND POLITICS 405 (iv) COMPARATIVE FEDERALISM 405 (v) SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN INDIA Courses of Studies for M.A. in Political Science (Under Semester System of Teaching & Examination Effective from the Academic Session 2016-17) SEMESTER-I Course No. PSC-101 MODERN POLITICAL THEORY Unit-I (i) Political Theory- Evolution, The Traditional Approach; Nature and Scope of Traditional Political Theory; Prime Concerns. (ii) Modern Political Theory- Genesis and Evolution; The Modern Behavioural Approach; Nature and Scope of Modern Political Theory; Prime Concerns. Unit-II (i) Political Decision-making Theory of Harold. D. Laswell – The Concept of Politics as the Societal Decision-making Process; Classification of Societal Values; Role of Elites in the Societal Decision-making Process; Effectiveness and Legitimacy of the Societal Decision-making Structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Education in the Elementary School: a Decision-Making Rationale
    This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 70-6748 COG AN, John Joseph, 1942- POLITICAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A DECISION-MAKING RATIONALE. The Ohio State U niversity, Ph.D., 1969 Education, theory and practice University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan (£) Copyright by John Joseph Cogan ,1970 POLITICAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A DECISION-MAKING RATIONALE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John Joseph Cogan, B.S., M.A, ****** The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This writer would like to extend hiB appreciation to all who provided guidance and help in any manner during the completion of this study. The writer is indebted immeasurably to his adviser, Professor Raymond H. Muessig, whose patient and continuous counsel made the completion of this study possible. Appreciation is also extended to Professors Robert E. Jewett and Alexander Frazier who served as readers of the dissertation. Finally, the writer is especially grateful to his wife, Norma, and hiB daughter, Susan, whose patience and understanding have been unfailing throughout the course of this study. ii VITA May 30, 19^2 . Born - Youngstown, Ohio 1 9 6 3. B.S., Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 1963-1965.... Elementary Teacher, Columbus Public Schools, Columbus, Ohio I965 ............ M.A., The Ohio State University, ColumbuB, Ohio 1965-1966 .... Graduate Assistant, College of Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1966-1967 .... United States Office of Education Fellow, Washington, D.C. Summer, 1967 . Acting Director, Consortium of Professional Associations for the Study of Special Teacher Improvement Programs (CONPASS), Washington, D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • SS 12 Paper V Half 1 Topic 1B
    Systems Analysis of David Easton 1 Development of the General Systems Theory (GST) • In early 20 th century the Systems Theory was first applied in Biology by Ludwig Von Bertallanfy. • Then in 1920s Anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski ( Argonauts of the Western Pacific ) and Radcliffe Brown ( Andaman Islanders ) used this as a theoretical tool for analyzing the behavioural patterns of the primitive tribes. For them it was more important to find out what part a pattern of behaviour in a given social system played in maintaining the system as a whole, rather than how the system had originated. • Logical Positivists like Moritz Schilick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Von Newrath, Victor Kraft and Herbert Feigl, who used to consider empirically observable and verifiable knowledge as the only valid knowledge had influenced the writings of Herbert Simon and other contemporary political thinkers. • Linguistic Philosophers like TD Weldon ( Vocabulary of Politics ) had rejected all philosophical findings that were beyond sensory verification as meaningless. • Sociologists Robert K Merton and Talcott Parsons for the first time had adopted the Systems Theory in their work. All these developments in the first half of the 20 th century had impacted on the application of the Systems Theory to the study of Political Science. David Easton, Gabriel Almond, G C Powell, Morton Kaplan, Karl Deutsch and other behaviouralists were the pioneers to adopt the Systems Theory for analyzing political phenomena and developing theories in Political Science during late 1950s and 1960s. What is a ‘system’? • Ludwig Von Bertallanfy: A system is “a set of elements standing in inter-action.” • Hall and Fagan: A system is “a set of objects together with relationships between the objects and between their attributes.” • Colin Cherry: The system is “a whole which is compounded of many parts ..
    [Show full text]
  • American Political Science Association
    A MERICAN P OLITICAL S CIENCE ASSOCIATION Assessing (In)Security after the Arab Spring John Gledhill, guest editor, April Longley Alley, Brian McQuinn, and Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar Misconceptions and Realities of the 2011 Tunisian Election Moez Habadou and Nawel Amrouche Political Science & Politics Katrina Seven Years On PSO CTOBER 2013, V OLUME 46, N UMBER 4 Christine L. Day American Political Science Association Make plans to attend the 2014 APSA Teaching & Learning Conference The 2014 APSA Teaching & Learning Conference theme is “Teaching Inclusively: Inte- grating Multiple Approaches into the Curriculum.” In this unique meeting, APSA strives to promote the greater understanding of cutting- edge approaches, techniques, and methodologies for the political science classroom. Using a working group format, the conference includes plenaries, tracks, and work- shops on topics such as: t Civic Engagement t Integrating Technology in the t Conflict and Conflict Resolution Classroom t Core Curriculum/General t Internationalizing the Curriculum Education t Teaching and Learning at Community t Curricular and Program Assessment Colleges t Distance Learning t Professional Development t Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Equality t Simulations and Role Play t Graduate Education: Teaching and t Teaching Political Theory and Theories Advising Graduate Students t Teaching Research Methods www.apsanet.org/teachingconference 1527 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202.483.2512 | www.apsanet.org ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Political Science & Politics
    Political Science & Politics Volume XXI Number 2 Spring 1988 "/ <£lVE. TbU A MAM WHO 6 RELI&10U5, QUX Cb NO fAhKTlc; A MAM VVHO ^V&RS ^ ro A eo/Mr; /\ MAN WHO LIKES Private Lives and Public Careers Bruce Buchanan, Ronald Elving and Sanford Levinson 1988 Annual Meeting Preview Chatham House Checklist Box One, Chatham, NJ 07928 Telephone: (201) 635-2059 * Arian: Politics in Israel it Ball: Modern Politics and Government 4ed * Cannon and O'Brien: Views from the Bench * Dalton: Citizen Politics in Western Democracies * Dogan and Pelassy: How to Compare Nations * Dolbeare: American Political Thought * Dolbeare: Democracy at Risk rev ed * Dragnich et al.: Politics and Government 2ed •sir Fry: Masters of Public Administration it Godwin: Direct Marketing of Politics * Goodsell: The Case for Bureaucracy 2ed •sir Hancock: West Germany •sir Hancock et al.: Politics in Western Europe ~k Hershey: Running for Office it Hinckley: The Symbolic Presidency * Hood: Tools of Government * Jacobs et al.: Comparative Politics * Jones: The Reagan Legacy * Kaufman: Time, Chance, and Organizations * King: The State in Modern Society it Lynn &. Wildavsky: Public Administration * McFarland: Common Cause * Meehan: The Thinking Game: A Guide to Effective Study * Orren and Polsby: Media and Momentum: New Hampshire * Peters: American Public Policy 2ed •sir Rose: The Post-Modern Presidency * Sartori: The Theory of Democracy Revisited * Savas: Privatization: The Key to Better Government * Wilson: Business and Politics * Published it Forthcoming On your request for exam copies, please state course title, present text, and enrollment on your letterhead and send it to Edward Artinian, publisher, Chatham House Publishers, Inc., Box One, Chatham, New Jersey 07928 or telephone (201) 635-2059.
    [Show full text]
  • The English Revolution in Historiographical Perspective
    The English Revolution in Historiographical Perspective Daniel M. Roberts, Jr. Three hundred years have passed since native Englishmen last made war on each other. Yet, even after the Restoration of the House of Stuart, a great struggle of interpretation continued; men felt compelled to explain the war, its causes, circumstances, and results. Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) observed that all history is contemporary history. One need search no further for the truth of this dictum than the prodigious corpus of scholarly disputation seeking to interpret the English Revolution. Each century has provided fresh insights into the war, and the literature on this conflict serves to remind us that a historian's writing reveals as much about the writer as it does about the subject. The task at band is to fashion a description of the scholars who have investigated those civil distempers which gripped England in the mid-seventeenth century, striving, by this, to understand more of the subject by examining the examiners. The study of the English Revolution is a case study of historiogra­ phical dispute-a veritable panoply of learned pyrotechnics. Any analysis of this subject is complicated by the emotional investment common to those writing about civil conflict on their native soil; objectivity tends to suffer. This requires unhesitating skepticism when dealing with interpre­ tive writing. Despite the ritualistic protestations of pure and disinterested analysis, purged of any partisan presupposition, authors rarely become, as Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon (1609-74), claimed to be, free from "any of those passions which naturally transport men with prejudice towards the persons whom they are obliged to mention, and whose actions Daniel M.
    [Show full text]
  • Foundation of Political Science
    School of Distance Education UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION I SEMESTER B.A POLITICAL SCIENCE (2013 ADMISSION) CORE COURSE FOUNDATION OF POLITICAL SCIENCE QUESTION BANK 1. Who defined political science is “that part of social science which treats the foundations of the foundations of the state and principles of government”? a. Paul Janet; b. Dyke; c. Gettell; d. None of it 2. Who is the author of “A History of Political Theory”? a. Karl Popper; b. Sabine; c. Mill; d. Locke 3. Who described historical approach as ‘historicism’? a. Bentham; b. Hegel; c. Popper; d. Marx 4. Which approach is, according to Rober A Dahl, an attempt to make the empirical content of Political Science more scientific “ a. Institutional Approach c. Philosophical Approach b. Historical Approach d. Behavioural Approach 5. Who introduced ‘intellectual foundations’ for behavioural approach? a. Easton; b. Merriam; c. Lasswell; d. Bentley 6. Who said “the concept of power is the most fundamental in the whole of Political Science: the Political Process is the shaping, dissolution and exercise of power” ? a. Merriam and Easton c. Catlin and Bentley b. Lasswell and Kaplan d. None of them 7. Who is known as the greatest advocate of Post-Behaviouralism? a. Merriam; b. Easton; c. Lasswell; d. Bentley 8. Which approach demands ‘relevance’ and ‘action’? a. Institutional Approach c. Behaviouralist b. Post-Behaviouralist Approach d. Historical Approach 9. Whose definition encompasses the ‘politics of consent’ as well as the ‘politics of struggle’? a. Easton; b. Merriam; c. Lasswell; d. Kaplan 10. Who introduced ‘politics of consent’ ? a. Lasswell; b.
    [Show full text]
  • David Hume: the Making of a Philosophical Historian
    David Hume: The Making of a Philosophical Historian A Reconsideration Moritz Baumstark Ph.D The University of Edinburgh 2007 DECLARATION The present PhD thesis has been composed by myself alone and represents my own work, which has not been submitted for any other degree or qualification. ______________________________ Moritz Baumstark ABSTRACT OF THESIS The thesis is concerned with the exploration of the interconnections between philosophy and history in David Hume’s work and seeks to provide a reassessment of his remarkable transition from metaphysical philosopher and polite essayist to philosophical and narrative historian. The first part of the thesis puts forth a detailed reappraisal of Hume’s intellectual preoccupations and literary pursuits in the crucial but neglected period 1748-1752, a period that witnessed Hume’s tour of several European courts in 1748, his intensive reading of the classics and his engagement with Montesquieu’s new system of socio-political analysis. These years saw a decisive shift in Hume’s thinking about human nature that resulted in an increasing emphasis on its historicity. It is argued that this helps to explain his growing insistence on the necessity of accounting for the varied manifestations of human nature in different historical periods by a reconstruction of the social, political and economical conditions of past societies as well as their customs, manners and belief systems. It is furthermore argued that Hume’s new holistic view of past civilisations found its expression in a number of diverse pieces which can be read as fragments of a cultural history of classical antiquity and contain an important agenda for a new kind of cultural history.
    [Show full text]
  • Scott L. Althaus
    Althaus – 1 SCOTT L. ALTHAUS Cline Center for Advanced Social Research Office: 217.265.7845 University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Fax: 217.265.7880 2001 South First St., Suite 207 E‐mail: [email protected] Champaign, IL 61820‐7461 Web: www.illinois.edu/~salthaus CURRENT APPOINTMENTS Merriam Professor of Political Science and Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (2012‐present). Director of the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research, University of Illinois at Urbana‐ Champaign (2014‐present) Faculty Affiliate of the following University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign units: School of Information Sciences (2016‐present) National Center for Supercomputer Applications (2014‐present) Institute for Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2014‐present) Illinois Informatics Institute (2011‐present) PAST APPOINTMENTS Associate Director of the Cline Center for Democracy, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (2011‐2014) Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Department of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (2003‐2012). Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Department of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (1996‐2003). EDUCATION NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Ph.D. in Political Science with certificate in Political Communication, December 1996. M.A. in Political Science, June 1993. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY B.A. in Rhetoric with honors, May 1991. Departmental honors, Phi Beta Kappa. DIABLO VALLEY COLLEGE, PLEASANT HILL, CA General education studies, 1987‐89. BOOKS Althaus, Scott. In preparation. Time in the Fight: Understanding Popular Support for America’s Wars. Under contract with Cambridge University Press. Althaus, Scott. 2003. Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enlightenment of Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset, Léger-Marie Deschamps, and Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet
    ‘TOUCHSTONES OF TRUTH’: THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF JEAN-BAPTISTE-LOUIS GRESSET, LÉGER-MARIE DESCHAMPS, AND SIMON-NICOLAS-HENRI LINGUET DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Mircea Alexandru Platon, M.A. Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Dale K. Van Kley, Adviser Dr. Alice Conklin, Adviser Dr. Nicholas Breyfogle Copyright Mircea Alexandru Platon 2012 ABSTRACT My dissertation, “ ‘Touchstones of Truth’: The Enlightenment of J.-B.-L. Gresset, L.-M. Deschamps, and S.-N.-H. Linguet,” focuses on three key but little studied opponents of the philosophes. I argue that the writer Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709- 1777), the philosopher Léger-Marie Deschamps (1716-1774), and the lawyer and political theorist Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet (1736-1794) opposed the philosophes in the name of a set of universally valid principles against what they took to be the philosophes' superficial, self-serving, and haphazard politicization of language, philosophy and the social sciences. These three intellectuals warned that such politicization fostered economic, political, and intellectual inequality as well as cultural alienation, thereby undermining the Enlightenment’s own vision of a world of self-emancipated human beings and pushing France in the direction of a violent revolution. Gresset supported a “civic republican” political economy of virtue, and warned about the dangers of the consumer culture fostered by the philosophes. The roots of his cultural criticism lay in moral and political concerns that found expression in a patriotic discourse stressing the importance of social “harmony” and the common good while rejecting any temptation to belong to a “party.” In this spirit, Gresset defended the “ancient constitution” against idle monks, royal or ministerial despotism, parlementarian rebellion, and the philosophes.
    [Show full text]