Abstract
This article examines the five myths that govern political science: that it studies politics; that it is scientific; that one can study politics cut off from the other social sciences and history; that the state is neutral; and that the bulk of the work in the discipline furthers the cause of democracy. Within political science, there have been three main approaches to criticizing these myths: a moderate one that treats the elements in these myths as more or less disconnected; a radical one that sees a systemic connection between these elements but doesn't bring out what it is and how it works; and a Marxist one that names this system, “capitalism,” and privileges the role of the capitalist state in explaining both politics and political science.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 362-370 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | International Critical Thought |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- capitalism
- democracy
- Marxism
- myths
- political science
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Political Science and International Relations
- Cultural Studies
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science