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The Political System. SSEC Publication No. 103.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Political System. SSEC Publication No. 103.
Authors: Collier, David, Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., Boulder, CO.
Availability: Social Science Education Consortium, 855 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302 ($0.75 prepaid)
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 17
Publication Date: 1966
Sponsoring Agency: Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC. Cooperative Research Program.
Report Number: SSEC-103
Document Type: Book
Descriptors: Citizenship Responsibility, Concept Teaching, Decision Making, Elementary Education, Feedback, Governmental Structure, Models, Political Power, Political Science, Politics, Power Structure, Secondary Education, Social Environment, Social Reinforcement, Systems Approach, United States Government (Course)
Abstract: The systems analysis of political life might be used as a basis for teaching about the political process in all grades, including elementary school. A political system is part of an intra-societal environment including ecological, biological, personality, economic, cultural, and other systems, all operating in society and bound by an extra-societal environment which is the sphere of relations among national societies. This system, emphasizing the relationship of the political system to its environment, is regulated by "demands," one of the two major inputs from the environment; "outputs," the decisions made by the authorities; "support" for the system, and other major input; and "feedback," a concept which unifies the whole analysis. The three basic components of the system unified by the feedback process are the political community, the regime, and the authorities. The concept of politics as a feedback system focuses on the cycle of inputs and outputs and presents the political system as a conversion process that regulates itself in order to persist. This cycle is the political function of allocating authoritatively the valued things of society, which is an order-maintaining role. This theory of the political system deals with fundamental processes and relationships rather than isolated facts. (JH)
Journal Code: RIEMAY1975
Entry Date: 1975
Accession Number: ED100788
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:The systems analysis of political life might be used as a basis for teaching about the political process in all grades, including elementary school. A political system is part of an intra-societal environment including ecological, biological, personality, economic, cultural, and other systems, all operating in society and bound by an extra-societal environment which is the sphere of relations among national societies. This system, emphasizing the relationship of the political system to its environment, is regulated by "demands," one of the two major inputs from the environment; "outputs," the decisions made by the authorities; "support" for the system, and other major input; and "feedback," a concept which unifies the whole analysis. The three basic components of the system unified by the feedback process are the political community, the regime, and the authorities. The concept of politics as a feedback system focuses on the cycle of inputs and outputs and presents the political system as a conversion process that regulates itself in order to persist. This cycle is the political function of allocating authoritatively the valued things of society, which is an order-maintaining role. This theory of the political system deals with fundamental processes and relationships rather than isolated facts. (JH)