Political Science Foundations Essay Research Paper The

Political Science: Foundations Essay, Research Paper

The Importance of Theoretical Frameworks For Understanding Foundations of

Political Science

The importance of theoretical frameworks is essential for understanding

foundations for political science. The definition of the word framework is a

theory which can be used as a lens to look at a set of facts. (E.g., journalist

look at a set of facts that tell a story of what happened). These frameworks

in political science help build a strong foundation and advocate a precise sense

of racial balance in the political arena. A social scientist tries to organize

a set of facts into systemic theoretical passion. The Social scientists are

trying to accomplish the facts they create can be used to explain a theory

that can be applied to other sets of facts. The importance of these frameworks

helps people gather important information and compare and contrast their

different strengths and weaknesses.

The first traditional and most dominant framework to examine is Pluralism.

Pluralism can generally be defined as group politics in a free market society.

Pluralism takes its roots from the founding of the nation. James Madison saw

the United States as a stronger nation if there was conflict rather than a

consensus. Madison points out in Federalist #10 that citizens would be divided

into many factions that would compete for benefits. The chief cause of division

when Madison wrote this was economics in origin, but now race has emerged as a

major factor in dividing American society. Robert Dali founder of Pluralism

modernizes Madison’s theory into theory of American democracy to incorporate

into the theory of pluralism.

Pluralism explains minority group politics in a process that attempts to show

the strength of groups in the minority. In pluralism the theory assumes that

there are non-cumulative inequalities in American politics. These inequalities

would mean no group would be on the minority of a law being passed every time

and that no group dominates every time either. The second part of the pluralism

theory suggests that there is a multiple power center. A definition of multiple

power center is when a minority group is denied access to influence one branch

of government but may be able to influence politics or policy change in another

part of the arena. Example, a group may be unable to pursue its goals of

influence of the legislative branch but it might be able to influence the

executive branch. The third assumption of the pluralist theory is non-

cumulative groups have a number of political resources at their disposal. If a

group does not have financial means it might make up for it numbers at the

election booth. These assumptions of the pluralist theory shows advantage of

group politics to the minority group but does account for some of the

disadvantages of group politics in the entirety.

The pluralist theory has several weaknesses for minority groups of the political

arena. Some Political groups do not have equal access to the political process.

For example groups that don’t have numbers and those without money are at a

disadvantage. The significance of a prejudice society in the pluralist theory

shows no significance of mention when talking about ethnic and racial minority

groups. The minority and ethnic groups that this model represents are European

immigrants. This theory also fails to represent the racial imbalance of groups