Research Note: 46 1/2 Conceptions of Politics

Abstract

Students of politics cleave to a welter of conflicting conceptions of their subject. We all know that these conceptions shape the questions researchers put to politics, as well as the assumptions on which they make their inquiries. But we lack any serious attempt to classify these conceptions, which prevents us from achieving a clear view of the similarities and differences between different conceptions. This research note thus classifies 46 1/2 conceptions of politics I have found in the scholarly literature. I present the conceptions and divide them into seven classes: power-seeking conceptions, power-distributing conceptions, struggle-and-competition conceptions, collective decision and -action conceptions, group- and social order-production conceptions, authority-asserting conceptions, and shaping -values and -arrangements conceptions. Among those discussed are the Weberian, Marxist, feminist, collective-choice, conservative, and agonistic conceptions of politics.