The Berkeley school of political theory is a
school of thought in
political theory
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
associated originally with the work of faculty at the
University of California, Berkeley, some of whom formulated and popularized its ideas. The school of thought was founded by
Sheldon Wolin
Sheldon Sanford Wolin (; August 4, 1922 – October 21, 2015) was an American political theorist and writer on contemporary politics. A political theorist for fifty years, Wolin became Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University, whe ...
,
Hanna Pitkin,
["In light of Pitkin's long association with Berkeley, it is no surprise that academic lore frequently connects her work to a 'Berkeley School' of political theory, said to have flourished in the 1960s and '70s.", Mathiowetz, 2016, p.5 of the PDF.] Michael Rogin,
John Schaar John Homer Schaar (July 7, 1928 – December 26, 2011), also known as Jack Schaar, was an American political theorist. He was a professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Schaar was born in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, and rais ...
, and
Norman Jacobson
Norman Raymond Jacobson (31 October 1917 – 13 January 1994) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s. A New South Wales representative three-quarter back, he played his club football career in the NSWRFL Premiership f ...
, among others, and has been carried on by theorists including
Wilson Carey McWilliams,
Mary G. Dietz,
Linda M.G. Zerilli
Linda may refer to:
As a name
* Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named)
* Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer
* Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...
and
J. Peter Euben.
[William Grimes]
"Sheldon S. Wolin, Theorist Who Shifted Political Science Back to Politics, Dies at 93"
(obituary), '' The New York Times'', Oct. 28, 2015.[Mathiowetz 2017.]
The Berkeley school has been characterized as returning political theory back in the direction of politics and political action, and away from efforts to center "scientific" models such as economics, psychology, sociology, and the natural sciences, specifically
behavioralism and
evolutionary psychology.
[Mathiowetz, 2016.]
See also
* D.P. Mathiowetz, "The Berkeley School of Political Theory as Moment and as Tradition", ''PS: Political Science and Politics'', June 1, 2017, available at http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3n9196dc.
* James P. Young, ''Reconsidering American Liberalism: The Troubled Odyssey of the Liberal Idea'' (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996), 294–306.
* Jason Reiner, "The Berkeley School of Political Theory: A Retrospective on an American Radicalism," ''Association for Political Theory 2013 Annual Meeting''
* D. P. Mathiowetz, 2016, "Hanna Fenichel Pitkin and the Dilemmas of Political Thinking", in ''Hanna Fenichel Pitkin: Politics, Judgement, Action'', available at http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1x84g1jx .
References
Political theories
Schools of thought
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