Harman Patil (Editor)

Post behavioralism

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Post-behavioralism (or post-behaviouralism) also known as neo-behavioralism (or neo-behaviouralism) was a reaction against the dominance of behavioralist methods in the study of politics. One of the key figures in post-behaviouralist thinking was David Easton who was originally one of the leading advocates of the "behavioral revolution". Post-behavioralists claimed that despite the alleged value-neutrality of behavioralist research it was biased towards the status quo and social preservation rather than social change.

Contents

Key tenets

  • Post-behavioralism challenged the idea that academic research had to be value neutral and argued that values should not be neglected.
  • Post-behavioralism claimed that behavioralism's bias towards observable and measurable phenomena meant that too much emphasis was being placed on easily studied trivial issues at the expense of more important topics.
  • Research should be more relevant to society and intellectuals have a positive role to play in society.

    • Criticism

    Heinz Eulau described post-behavioralism as a "near hysterical response to political frustrations engendered by the disconcerting and shocking events of the late sixties and early seventies".

    References

    Post-behavioralism Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA