CONCEPTS & THEORIES IN POLITICS

Introduction
Language & Politics
Understanding Political Concepts
What is Political Theory
Chapter 2: CONCEPTS & THEORIES IN POLITICS

Politics is a struggle over the

legitimate meaning of terms and
concepts. Language is often used as a
political weapon; words are seldom
neutral but carry political and
ideological baggage.
Language is both a tool with which we think
and a means by which we communicate with
others.
If the language we use is confused or
poorly understood, it is not only difficult to
express our views and opinions with any
degree of accuracy but it is also impossible
to know the contents of our own minds.
Concepts are the building blocks of knowledge.
Concepts are sometimes abstract models or ideal-types,
which only approximate to the reality they help to
understand. They can either be descriptive, referring to
‘what is’, or normative, expressing views about ‘what
ought to be’.
The meaning of political concepts is often
contested; some of them may be ‘essentially
contested concepts’, meaning that no neutral or
settled definition can ever
be developed.
A. Language and Politics

Language
a system of expression which employs
symbols to represent things, which can
include physical objects, feelings and ideas.
• language is essentially passive - its role being to
reflect reality as accurately as possible, rather as a
mirror reflects the image before it.
• language is also a positive & active force, capable of
firing the imagination and stirring the emotions.
Words do not merely reflect the realities around
us, they also help to shape what we see and
structure our attitude towards it.

In effect, language helps to create the world itself.

This problem is particularly acute in politics

because language is so often wielded by those who have
an incentive to manipulate and confuse –
professional politicians.
 Language is therefore not simply a means of
communication, it is a political
weapon
it is shaped and honed to convey political intent.
• States justify their own ‘nuclear deterrent’ but condemn other
states for possessing ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
• The invasion of a foreign country can be described either as a
‘violation’ of its sovereignty or as the ‘liberation’ of its people,
similarly;
• Civilian casualties of war can be dismissed as ‘collateral damage’,
and genocide can appear almost excusable when it is referred to as
‘ethnic cleansing’.
Since the late 20th century, movement to insist upon
‘political correctness’ in the use of language has been
raised
language invariably reflects the power structure in society
and so discriminates in favour of dominant groups and
against subordinate ones.

The goal of ‘political correctness’ is to develop bias-free terminology

that enables political argument to be conducted in non-discriminatory
language, thereby countering deeply rooted prejudices and
presuppositions.
However, that the hope of an unbiased and
objective language of political discourse may be
illusory.
Critics of ‘political correctness’ argue that it imposes an
ideological straitjacket upon language that both
impoverishes its descriptive power and introduces a form of
censorship by denying expression to ‘incorrect’
views.
If the attempt to devise a neutral and scientific
vocabulary for politics is hopeless, where does this
leave us?
The least, and possibly the most, we can do is…
be clear about the words we use and the
meanings we assign to them.
Language should be ‘an instrument
for expressing and not for concealing
or preventing thought’.
George Orwell, ‘Politics and the English Language’
(1957)
B. Understanding Political Concepts

Examines political theory by exploring the

use and significance of key political
concepts.
However, concepts are often
slippery customers, and this is
particularly the case in relation to
political concepts.
In its simplest sense, a concept is a
general idea about something,
usually expressed in a single word
or a short phrase.

A concept is more than a proper

noun or the name of a thing.
Concepts are therefore ‘general’ in the
sense that they can refer to a number of
objects, indeed to any object that
complies with the general idea itself.
Concept formation is an essential step
in the process of reasoning. Concepts
are the ‘tools’ with which we think,
criticize, argue, explain and analyse.
Merely perceiving the external world does
not in itself give us knowledge about it. In
order to make sense of the world we must,
in a sense, impose meaning upon it, and we
do this through the construction of
concepts.
In political reasoning: we build up our
knowledge of the political world not simply by
looking at it, but by developing and
refining concepts which help us make sense of
 POLITICAL THEORY AND
IDEOLOGIES
“how should we live together?”

Describes, explains and evaluates human life as it

is lived in community with others, and predicts
future patterns of community life.

Political theory is how people think.

it allows you to see from different points of view, and

understand why people do things. 
 MAIN GOAL OF POLITICAL THEORY
• to understand politics and society using data mostly
taken from philosophy, sociology, psychology.
• to give the people a meaningful and rational
basement to understand how is going on in politics
and society.
• to understand the deeper and essential relationships
between things, developments and events.
But it is important to point out that the political theories are not using only cause and effect
relation to understand those relationships, having said that they improve some critical
thinking and suggestions to the active politics.
3 TYPES OF POLITICAL THEORY

Empirical Theory
'what is' through observation

seek to generate a hypothesis

proposed explanation for some

phenomena that can be tested empirically.
3 TYPES OF POLITICAL THEORY

Normative Theory
‘what ought to be’
How the world should be and focus on the
exploration of values and what should be
done based upon those values.
Explores the values and ideals of a political system.
3 TYPES OF POLITICAL THEORY

Evaluative Theory

“who we are’
refer to a whole host of more or less
theoretical writings with evaluation
practice as their primary focus.
Criticisms of ideologies

Evaluative Theory

“who we are’
refer to a whole host of more or less
theoretical writings with evaluation
practice as their primary focus.
what IS ideology?
 Ideology” is the most elusive concept in the
whole of social science. - David McLellan

Ideology ≠ “Study of” Ideas

Ideology tends to be used pejoratively
Systems of interrelated beliefs about social,
economic and political life.

Purpose was to further “progress” by improving people

They provide ideas reflecting people’s private interests rather
than more universal, public interests. More specifically,
ideologies are the “weapons of the ruling class” – ideas that
allow the most powerful members of society to maintain their
dominant status.

They oversimplify and thus distort reality.

They conceal the way the sociopolitical world really works,

camouflaging who most gains and who most loses from
particular practices and programs.
They are mere rationalizations to justify programs that people
hope will work, even when there is a lack of evidence to sustain
these hopes.
They induce people to sacrifice the present for unachievable
utopian goals.
They promote closed and rigid thinking that is resistant to new
information.

They are based more on emotion than reason.

They are based on paranoia, or irrational fears about the
motivations and powers of some “evil” opponents, leading to;

(a) simplistic evaluations contrasting the

forces of evil (“them”, the other) against
the forces of good (“us”)
(b) intolerance of everyone who does not
believe precisely as “we” do, and
(c) an unwillingness to bargain and
compromise with “them”.
They assert a moral and political absolutism, dogmatically insisting
on certain principles and behaviors and demanding conformity to
their “truths”.
They are extremist in that they reject the established political,
social and economic institutions and the stable benefits provided
by these institutions.
The ideas of the ruling class are in
every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the
class which is the ruling material
force of society, is at the same time
its ruling intellectual force. The class
which has the means of material
production at its disposal, has
control at the same time over the
means of mental production, so that
thereby, generally speaking, the
ideas of those who lack the means of
mental production are subject to it.
A set or system of ideas whose
function is to justify and
legitimize the rule of a
dominant class in society.

The “legal, political, religious,

aesthetic or philosophic”
principles which reinforce
capitalist society.

Marx didn’t believe his own ideas were ideological…

 Hegemony is the process by which
dominant Culture maintain
its Dominant position” when
we take the topic hegemony
we cannot talks without
Power. Because the word of
hegemony donated by
power.

“hegemony is dominance and subordination in the

field of relation structures by power” -Stuart Hall
Nowadays hegemony plays everywhere.
Those are politics, society and media. Power
is decided under these activities. 

When we take a political hegemony

power structure is the valuable
thing than other matters.
How hegemony works in Society?

In current situation money makes the culture. Every

society based on the culture. The developed
country’s culture is different than poor countries.
For example America was achieved economic
development. It has maximum money. So others
say American people’s culture is high level than
African people. So they get the cultural hegemony.
But other countries not like that. Therefore society
can be Separate ruling class and subject class.
 Gramsci argued that in 20th
Italian political theorist Antonio Century western democracies, the
ruling classes ruled through
Gramsci gives the Marxist thought Hegemony.
on the concept of hegemony by
proposing that dominant groups He suggested that across Society,
there were many interest groups
maintain power and protect that people aligned them.
common class interests, namely,
wealth and ownership, through the He argued that the Ruling class
use of cultural institutions and managed to rule, by taking on the
alliances with other members of interests of enough of these
groups, and therefore gaining the
the elite, not coercion. consent of the majority.
Interest groups for example might include religious
fundamentalists, public sector workers, small businesses,
environmentalists, democratic reformists, etc.

The ruling class relied for its survival from sharing

interests with ‘hegemony’ of interest groups.

Christianity is the main historical example (think of how

many legal systems take Christian moral values as their
basis).
Some societies, men have power over women. Hegemony
is dominance, and has to do with power possession. It is
also comes under the culture hegemony.

Democratic nation says Man and women have the same

right to all the things. The people those who are accept by
the democratic don’t like to give equal rights to the women.
These type of works done by hegemony in society.
How hegemony works in political?

Leadership is one of the great talents in the world.

There are many leaders comes from politics.
It is the effective way to guide others.
“Every political system including the democratic one,
it is based on the cultural hegemony” there also
provide the more influence by power.
The reason is without power any nation can’t run
effectively.
Leadership influence exercised by one nation over
others, if nation has the hegemony it can do anything that
particular boarder. Power is given by many wars in the
world. Each and every political problem comes from the
word of power. For example nowadays Philippines has
the same trouble. That means the people are involving
election (problem) for try to get the power.
Especially smaller nation
controlled by large nations in an
effort to achieve  world dominant.

For example in the case of

Philippines/US/China and West
Philippine Sea

Because, US/China has the more

power than Philippines
(Population, Economic, land)
Basically when big country thinks
it owns every country smaller than
it.
So, political hegemony
always tries to express
their power. And it likes
to control others. (Man or
nation) even though political
hegemony maintain the
democratic but it is create
many problem in the
beginning to until now.