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On the ‘Social Sin’ of Political Analysis: A Critical Quantitative Approach from a Systemic Perspective
Author(s) -
ParraLuna Francisco
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.2236
Subject(s) - politics , perspective (graphical) , political system , positive economics , relation (database) , sociology , quantitative analysis (chemistry) , epistemology , social system , social psychology , economics , political science , social science , psychology , law , philosophy , computer science , data mining , chromatography , artificial intelligence , democracy , chemistry
What is a political system? An organizational ‘instrument’ to satisfy the objective and subjective needs of people. How to operate it? By optimizing the relation T = Y / X where ‘ Y ’ is the ‘system of values’ produced and ‘ X ’ the means employed. Why does political science ignore this crucial relationship? Because it admits three historical fallacies: (i)it is not possible to know what values are produced by political systems; (ii) even if these were known, no valid quantitative date are available; and (iii) even if data were available, it is not possible to express ‘ T ’ as an integrated index. Three fallacies to show that most political analysis could be committing a grave social ‘sin’ because they scorn, systematically, the only thing the voters are looking for. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.