The Delimitation and Mensurability of Political Phenomena

1927 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. G. Catlin

Political science is not a sociological science of everything, a psychological study of all human behavior in all aspects, an anthropological inquiry into miscellaneous human customs, or a philosophy of history. Still less is it a study only of the state, which is a form of social organization resulting from one species of political action, or a study only of governments and the stage properties of law and administration.Politics is concerned with a field of human behavior characterized by the recurrence of specific behavior patterns. These peculiarly political patterns, however, must not be treated simply as a series of incidents in mere temporal juxtaposition. Human history must be studied as natural history and physical phenomena have been studied, that is to say, with a view to the detection of a recurrence in these patterns, and, hence, of a process in accordance with which, in given total situations, given detailed behavior patterns recur. These patterns are “lines of conduct” of an individual or group character, pursued in relation to other individuals or groups, as a matter of human method in dealing with such situations, which situations arise partly from the nature of the non-human environment, partly from the historical combination of human factors. The resultant specific action or behavior recurs with the recurrence of the stimuli of the approximately recurrent situation; for example, a certain general situation known as “the outbreak of hostilities” has certain specific consequences in changes of individual conduct toward members of a given nation, and the need of putting through a domestic policy against opposition brings into play the ever similar methods of party organization.

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-480
Author(s):  
Lee E. Dutter

Studies of individuals or groups who might use violence or terrorism in pursuit of political goals often focus on the specific actions which these individuals or groups have taken and on the policies which defenders (that is, governments of states) against such actions may adopt in response. Typically, less attention is devoted to identifying the relevant preconditions of political action and possible escalation to violence and how or why potential actions may be obviated before they occur. In the context of democratic political systems, the present analysis addresses these issues via examination of indigenous peoples, who typically constitute tiny fractions of the population of the states or regions in which they reside, in terms of their past and present treatment by governments and the political actions, whether non-violent or violent, which individuals from these peoples have engaged or may engage. The specific peoples examined are Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia, Haudenosaunee of North America, Inuit of Canada, Maori of New Zealand, and Saami of Scandinavia.


1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Emlen

Evolutionary biologists seek to understand human behavior by postulating that many of our current social behaviors and emotions represent heritable adaptations that were selectively advantageous during our ancestral (pre-agricultural, pre-industrial) human environment. Studies of animal species that live in societies structured similarly to those of our ancestors (i.e. in multi-generational family groups) may thus provide insights into the genetically influenced behavioral predispositions that may be present in ourselves. The evolutionary approach argues that family groupings have a biological basis. They form under particular ecological and demographic conditions when the reproduction of individuals is enhanced by prolonging the association between parents and young. Because families are comprised of close genetic relatives, a high degree of cooperation is expected between their members. Conflict is also expected, however, because the reproductive interests of parents, offspring, and other family members are rarely identical. Such conflicts are intensified in reconstituted (step) families because replacement mates (stepparents) are unrelated to offspring of the previous pairing, and extant offspring are less related to future young of the new pairing. I develop a set of predictions specifying when, where, and between whom, conflict is expected in reconstituted family environments. After briefly documenting the robustness of this approach in explaining the behavior of non-human species, I examine its value for interpreting patterns of behavior in human stepfamilies. I suggest that much of the increased conflict seen in modern human families is due to the recent surge in numbers of stepfamily households. Increased understanding of our behavioral predispositions can help us to design better conflict resolution strategies for human families in crisis. I offer a five point program for incorporating such knowledge into family counselling. The evolutionary perspective does not challenge or contradict the intellectual frameworks of sociology or psychology. Rather it seeks explanations for human behavior at a different level of analysis. In doing so it provides additional information of a new dimension which should lead to a better understanding of the types and frequencies of human family dysfunction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (58) ◽  
pp. 325
Author(s):  
Patrícia Verônica Nunes Carvalho Sobral de SOUZA

RESUMO Objetivo: O presente artigo parte da construção de uma conjectura que sonda as possibilidades de um Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão no ambiente dos Tribunais de Contas, mostrando-se benéfico ou não à sociedade por meio da sua prática consensual. A pesquisa busca a possibilidade e a necessidade de comprovar se o Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão atua com o objetivo primordial de beneficiar a sociedade como instrumento de tutela de direitos fundamentais sociais. Metodologia:Uma abordagem qualitativa, por entendê-la como um instrumento de exploração de um fenômeno, para compreender o significado que indivíduos ou grupos lhes conferem, especialmente, no ambiente social ou humano. Utiliza-se a revisão bibliográfica de caráter exploratório, descritivo e documental, uma vez que a mesma possibilita sumarizar as revisões bibliográficas com a finalidade de aprofundar o objeto de estudo através dos processos e documentos oriundos do Tribunal de Contas Sergipano. Resultados: O Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão, por sua própria essência, continua, na sua aplicação, como um instrumento importante do ativismo administrativo, posto que permite por meio de compromissos firmados no seu bojo, ir além do que a lei literalmente dispõe, cuja finalidade volta-se para a concretização de direitos dos cidadãos e em benefício desses, indo além da literalidade da lei, levando-se em consideração que o julgador de contas não detém o conhecimento absoluto acerca de todos os fatos que circundam a Pública Administração, sejam eles de ordem técnica, científica e orçamentária entre outras. O Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão revela-se como um instrumento consensual, decorrente de inspeções e auditorias realizadas pelos Tribunais de Contas, cujo estudo apresentou 68 Termos de Ajustamento de Gestão firmados pelo Tribunal de Contas do Estado de Sergipe (TCE/SE) e órgãos municipais/estaduais na perspectiva de corrigir rumos e tutelar direitos sociais fundamentais. Contribuições: Este estudo permite compreender a necessidade de se (re)pensar a gestão pública ultrapassando os limites dos tradicionais mecanismos do direito administrativo, onde se afirma o caráter democrático, educativo e pedagógico do Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão como prática preventiva ou saneadora de irregularidades. Também a título de contribuição, assinala-se a premência de um maior dinamismo na ação e solução de conflitos que não tenham como última finalidade a sanção, e sim a recomposição e a reorganização da gestão, buscando a correta implementação de políticas públicas que se voltem efetivamente à coletividade. Palavras-chave: ativismo de contas; Termo de Ajustamento de Gestão (TAG); Tribunal de Contas; tutela de direitos sociais. ABSTRACT Objective: This article starts from the construction of a conjecture that probes the possibilities of a Management Adjustment Term in the environment of the Courts of Auditors proving to be beneficial or not to society by way of its consensual practice. The research seeks the possibility and the need to prove whether the Management Adjustment Term acts with the primary objective of benefiting society as an instrument of protection of fundamental social rights. Methodology:A qualitative approach, to understand it as an instrument for exploring a phenomenon, to understand the meaning that individuals or groups give them, especially in the social or human environment. An exploratory, descriptive and documentary bibliographic review is used, as it makes it possible to summarize the bibliographic reviews in order to deepen the object of study through the processes and documents originating from the Court of Auditors of the State of Sergipe, Brazil. Results: The Term of Management Adjustment, by its very essence, continues in its application as an important instrument of administrative activism, as it allows by way of commitments signed in its core, to go beyond what the law literally provides, which target is to achieve citizens' rights and for their benefit, going beyond the literality of the law and taking into account that the auditor does not have absolute knowledge about all the facts surrounding the Public Administration, whether technical, scientific or budge among others. The Term of Management Adjustment reveals itself as a consensual instrument resulting from inspections and audits carried out by the Audit Courts, which study presented 68 Terms of Management Adjustment signed by the Audit Courts of the State of Sergipe (TCE/SE) and municipal /state bodies in the perspective of correcting directions and protecting fundamental social rights. Contributions: This study allows us to understand the need to (re)think public management beyond the limits of the traditional mechanisms of administrative law, which affirms the democratic, educational and pedagogical character of the Term of Management Adjustment as a preventive or remedy for irregularities. Also as a contribution, there is an urgent need for greater dynamism in the action and resolution of conflicts that do not have the ultimate purpose of sanction, but rather the recomposition and reorganization of management seeking the correct implementation of public policies effectively directed to the community. Keywords: account activism; Term of Management Adjustment (TAG); Audit Office; protection of social rights.


Home energy saving is very important to realize sustainable improvement. This can be achieved by designing a smart home system that provides a productive and cost-effective environment through optimization of different factors that will be explained in this paper. In this paper, an adaptive smart home system for optimal utilization of power will be designed. The system is based on genetic-fuzzy-neural networks technique, which can capture a human behavior patterns and use it to predict the user's mood. This technique will improve the intelligence of the smart home control to minimize the power losses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Megan Asri Humaira

Novel works usually raise various phenomena that occur in the community. These interesting works can influence the soul of the reader so that they can dive in and appear to be present in the story. In literary psychology,novel is Laila Majnun's very appropriate to study because it can see the psychological phenomenon experienced by the main character of the story, Layla and Majnun. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. Representation of human behavior seen through the figures Majnun, Layla, and Syed Omri who experienced chronic frustration, so that ended in death.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Amyr Borges Fortes Neto ◽  
Soraia Raupp Musse ◽  
Catherine Pelachaud

Latest advances in crowd simulation models that attempt to make agents with more realistic human-like behaviors explore heterogeneity of agent behaviors in order to achieve increased overall simulation realism. In general, human behavioral and psychological studies are used as base of knowledge and researchers try to simulate observed human behavior patterns within virtual agents. In this direction, this paper implements an emotion contagion model, within crowd simulation scenarios, in order to create realistic perception of agent behaviors on crowds.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document