Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics
Abstract
“To have mastered ‘theory’ and ‘method’ is to have become a conscious thinker , a man at work and aware of the assumptions and implications of whatever he is about. To be mastered by ‘method’ or ‘theory’ is simply to be kept from working.” The sentence applies nicely to the present plight of political science. The profession as a whole oscillates between two unsound extremes. At the one end a large majority of political scientists qualify as pure and simple unconscious thinkers. At the other end a sophisticated minority qualify as overconscious thinkers, in the sense that their standards of method and theory are drawn from the physical, “paradigmatic” sciences. The wide gap between the unconscious and the overconscious thinker is concealed by the growing sophistication of statistical and research techniques. Most of the literature introduced by the title “Methods” (in the social, behavioral or political sciences) actually deals with survey techniques and social statistics, and has little if anything to share with the crucial concern of “methodology,” which is a concern with the logical structure and procedure of scientific enquiry. In a very crucial sense there is no methodology without logos , without thinking about thinking. And if a firm distinction is drawn—as it should be—between methodology and technique, the latter is no substitute for the former. One may be a wonderful researcher and manipulator of data, and yet remain an unconscious thinker.
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Typologies function less as definitive taxonomies and more as heuristic instruments whose value is revealed only in use.
“typologies function less as definitive taxonomies and more as heuristic instruments whose value is revealed only in use”
From Authoritarian Drift, Variegated Paths: Mapping Administrative Transformation Strategies Under Illiberal Rule (2025) · cites this paper as Sartori (1970)
Unqualified reuse of established concepts risks analytical distortion through conceptual stretching.
“As Sartori(1970) cautioned, unqualified reuse of established concepts risks analytical distortion through conceptual stretching.”
From Authoritarian Drift, Variegated Paths: Mapping Administrative Transformation Strategies Under Illiberal Rule (2025) · cites this paper as Sartori(1970)
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- Authors
- Sartori, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Florence (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Sartori, Giovanni
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1970-12
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1033-1053
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W2009952390
- Cited by
- 3,318
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 182 · 2025: 248 · 2024: 212 · 2023: 225 · 2022: 182 · 2021: 213 · 2020: 189 · 2019: 190 · 2018: 184 · 2017: 112 · 2016: 94 · 2015: 131 · 2014: 125 · 2013: 126 · 2012: 107
- FWCI
- 138.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Political Science Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Social Science and Policy Research
- Keywords
- comparative politics, political science methodology, theory and method, unconscious thinking, survey techniques, social statistics
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