School of Public Affairs and Governance

Silliman University
Dumaguete City

Thought Leader
Soc.Sci. 313: Seminar in Political Dynamics
By
Reynaldo Y. Rivera, Ph.D.

Political Dynamics Talks about human behavior in society in general and political organization in
particular.
William Isaac Thomas. The Situational Approach (study of The Polish Peasants in Europe & American
w/ Florjan Znaniecki)
Two Fundamental Problems confronted by social thinkers:
1. The problem of the dependence of the individual upon society (social org.) and culture and
2. The problem of the dependence of society (social org.) and culture on the individuals
Two kinds of Data to study
1. The objective cultural elements or values
2. The subjective characteristics of the members of the social group or the attitude
Values and attitude are behavioral facts of sociology and psychology
Thomas Znaheids
By a social value we understand any datum having an empirical contents accessible to the
members of some social groups and the meaning with regard to which it is or maybe an object of activity.
Examples:
A foodstuff, an instrument, a coin, a piece of poetry, a university, a myth, a scientific theory.
The meaning of each become explicit when they are seen in the context of human activity.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The meaning of foodstuff is its reference to its eventual consumption

of an instrument its reference to work for which it is designed
of a coin, the possibility of buying and selling
a piece of poetry, the sentimental and intellectual reactions
of a university, a social activity which it performs
mythical personality, the cult of which it is the object and actions of which it is supposed to be
the author
7. Scientific theory the possibilities of control of experience by idea or action that it permits

An attitude is the psychological counterpart of a social value. The link between the two is to be
observed in the activity.

Soci
al
Valu
e

attitud
e

Link
Human Actions

Social/Political Dynamics is a social theory that is concerned with the relation between the individual
and the social group.
The Functions of Political Dynamics (i.e. social theory) is the study of social change or the process of
becoming.
The science of Political Dynamics (T & Z)
1. The chief problem of modern science causal explanation
2. First step of scientific inv.
Determination and systematization of data.
3. How do we lay the foundation of social science analysis:
An attempt to understand and control the process of becoming.
4. How is social becoming analyzed?
Plurality of facts, for each represents a succession of causes.
5. What is the idea of social theory as on political dynamics?
The analysis of the totality of social becoming unto such causal processes and the
systematization that permits us to understand the connection between processes.
The situational-frame-of reference is prescribed to study the processes of becoming. Thus T &
Z look every concrete activity is the solution of a situation.
What is a Behaviour?
Situation taking place?
Elements of Behavioral situation
1. The objective value conditions affect either directly or indirectly the conscious status of the
individual action.
2. The attitude that an individual brings into a situation on the basis of past experience.
3. The individuals definition of the situation. i.e., his more or less conscious interpretation of the
proper combination of values and attitudes to respond to in the form of a specific set of actions.
The cause of a value or an attitude is the combination of an attitude or value.

Page 2 of 6

I.

Political Dynamics Social Theory

W.I. Thomas. The Situational Approach

W.I. Thomas & Florjan Znaniecki. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America vol 1 of four volumes
(2, 244 pp). N.Y.: Alfred A. Khopfi, 1927.
II. Communication, Political Socialization and Propaganda

Human Social Interaction and stigma/personality creation

Family, media, church and Technology as critical links to political socialization process
Social Status and Rules as key links between individual and society
Concerns
How people are taught (process)
Content: What people are taught
Socialization (i.e., the effect of cultural and institutional change on social agents.)

Readings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

8.
9.
10.

Jacques Ellul. Propaganda: The Formation of Mens Attitudes (N.Y.: Vintage Boks, 1973).
Al Ries and Jack Trout. Positioning (N.Y.: McGraw Hill, 2009/2013)
Charles Norton Cooley on Looking glass self.
George H. Mead on theory of Self-development; creation of the self and mind and with the
social training process
___________. Mind, Self, and Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934)
+ id primitive biological force; w/ sexual urges and violent impulses as forces behind
human growth.
+ ego ration, thinking, calculating element that controls and channels ids basis drives.
+ super ego regualates both the id and the ego; a conscience that sets what is right and
wrong behavior.
Sigmund Freud. Civilization and Discontent, trans. Joan Riverse (London: Hogarth Press,
1946 on a biological approach on personality development.)
B.F. Skinner. The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis (N.Y.: AppletonCentury-Crafts, 1938) on The role of direct rewards & punishments in socialization process.
Rewards and punishment conditions behavior.
Ivan P. Pavlov. Conditional Reflexes and Psychiatry (N.Y. International publishes, 1941)
A. Bandura and R.H. Walters. Social Learning and Personality Development (N.Y.: Holt,
1963). > Advertisements and the Kids
Herbert Marcuse. One Dimensional Man

Page 3 of 6

III. The Political Process The state and Interest Groups or the Power Elites
A.

Control of the Political Process: Who Governs:

1. Power-Elite Theory (Tenets)
2. The Pluralism Theory
3. Corporate Elites & their Lobby Activities
4. Interest Groups and Pressure Tactics
Goals and Partisans
Changes in incumbents
Changes in D-M process
Changes in Social Structures

Readings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Raymond Avon, Social Structure and the Ruling Class; British Journals of Sociology, vol.1
(June, 1950).
John Kenneth Galbraith. The New Industrial State ( N.Y.: Signet Books, 1968)
William Gamson. Power and Discontent (Homewood, Illinois: Irving Press, 1970)
William Kornhauser, Power Elite or Veto Groups, in Reinhard Bendix and Seymour Martin Lipset
(eds.) Class status and Power (N.Y.: Free Press, 1966), pp. 120.
Nicolo Machiavelli. The Prince (any edition).
Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji. Mastering the Art of War (commentaries on the classic of Sun Tzu),
trans. & Ed. Thomas Cleary (Boston, Mass.: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1989).
C.W. Mills. The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.)
Nelson Polshy. Community Power and Political Theory ( New Haven: Yale press, 1963)
Robert Dahl. Who Governs? (New Haven: Yale Press, 1961).
Robert B. Stauffer. Corporation in the Philippines. Asian Survey/Pacific Affairs (1970s)

IV. Stratification Dynamics and Social Classes: Power and Conflict

Conflict and Power Theory

Marx and Lenski Models
Classes and Functional Theory
Parsons and Merton Models
Unequal Distribution of Income and Wealth
Occupational Social Classes

Readings
1. Talcott Parsons. The Social System (Glencoe, III.: Free Press, 1951)
2. Robert K. Merton. Social Theory and Social Structure (New York: The Free Press, 1968)
3. Richard Bendix and Symeur Lipset, eds. Class, Status, and Power, 2nd ed. (N.Y.: Free Press,
1966).
4. T.B. Bottomore. Classes in Modern Societies (N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1968).
5. Robert Dahl. Who Governs? (1961)
6. Ralph Dahrendorf. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (Stanford: Stanford Press,
1959)
7. C.W. Mills. The Power Elite (1961)

Page 4 of 6

8. Robert Lampan. The Share of Top Wealth-Holders in National Wealth (Princeton: N.J.:
Princeton University Press: 1962)
9. Gerhard Lenski. Power and Privilege (N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1966)
10. Thorstein Veblen. The Theory of Leisure Class (N.Y.: Macmillan, 1912)
V. Social Movements and Revolution
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Power Orientation
Value Orientation
Resistance Orientation
Social Movements
Revolution

Readings
1. Crane Brinton. The Anatomy of Revolution (N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1957)
2. James Davies. Toward a Theory of Revolution, American Sociological Review, 27, (February
1962), pp. 5-19.
3. ___________. Satisfaction and Revolution in David H. Everson and John Poparad Paine. An
Introduction to Systematic Political Science (Homewood, Illinois; The Dorsey Press, 1973).
4. Lyford Edwards. The Natural history of Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1927)
5. N.J. Smelser. Theory of Collective Behavior (N.Y.: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963).
6. Raymond Tanter and Manus Midlarsky, A Theory of Revolution, The Journal of Conflict
Resolution, vol xi, #3, (Sept. 1967), pp. 265-279.
7. R.H. Turner and L.M. Killan. Collective Behavior (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1957)
8. D. Lang and G.E. Lang. Collective Dynamics. (N.Y.: Crowell, 1961)
9. Barny McLaughlin. Studies in Social Movements (N.Y.: Free Press, 1969).
VI. Globalization or Imperialism and Militarism and Poverty
A.
B.
C.
D.

Globalization
Imperialism
Militarism
Poverty

Readings
Teresa Hayler. The Creation of World Poverty 2nd Ed. (London: Pluto Press, 1990/1992).
V.I. Lenin. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (any ed.)
Thomas Levitt. The Globalization of Markets, The Mackinley Quarterly (Summer 1984)
Carlos Martinez World Systems Theory ESD. 83 (Fall 2001).
Christopher Chase-Dunn and Peter Grimes, World Systems Analysis, Annual Review of
Sociology, vol. 21. (1995), pp. 387 -417. (Internet)
6. Modern History Sourcebook: Summary of Wallerstein on Wallerstein on World System Theory
(Internet)
7. The Levin Institute. The State University of NewYork Globalization
(http.//www.globalization.org/what_is_globalization.html)
8. Gunnar Myrdal. Rich Nations and Poor. (N.Y.: Harper and Raw, 1957)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Page 5 of 6

9. Teotonio dos Santos, The Structure of Dependence. American Economics Review, 60 (1970),
pp. 23, et pass.
10. Samir Amin. Accumulation on a World Scale (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1974).
11. Harry Magdoff,
12. James Petras, Unrelenting Global Economic Crisis: A Doomsday view of 2012, Global
Research (December 25, 2011).
13. Bob Chapman, Grim Economic Prospects for 2012: Social Upheaval, Bank Defaults and Finacial
Chaos, Global Research (Dec. 28, 2011).

Page 6 of 6