The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (212 page)
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Authors: Iain McLean
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pork barrel legislation
Legislation that allocates government money to projects in a certain constituency. Particularly associated with US politics, where legislators seek to base military or transport facilities, and government agencies in their own constituency. Electoral prospects, especially for Congressmen, often depend on how much ‘pork’ they can divert to their home district, and members are reluctant to obstruct each other's pet projects in case their own are defeated. See also
logrolling
.
logrolling
.
pornography
Literally, ‘writing about prostitutes’: obscene publications. Female pornography is seen by feminists as a mode of oppression and exercise of power by the stronger sex. The woman's body is sexualized and various parts of her anatomy are used to provide pleasure to the male gaze. Pornography entails sexual exploitation and male violence. However, similar modes of exploitation can also be located in family life and certain state policies. Pornography is associated with the abusive and degrading portrayal of female sexuality through words and sexually explicit material. Another characteristic of pornography is the dehumanization and objectification of women's bodies.
STh
STh
positional goods
Term coined by F. Hirsch in
Social Limits to Growth
(1977) to denote goods which are valued for their scarcity alone: examples given include unspoilt countryside and high educational qualifications. Hirsch argued that competition for these goods was necessarily
zero-sum
. Thus he distanced himself both from doomsters whose then-influential
The Limits to Growth
(ed. D. Meadows
et al
. for the Club of Rome, 1972) had argued that mankind was about to run out of natural resources and from conventional economists who saw no insuperable limits to growth through increasing material abundance. Critics of Hirsch have argued that the concept of positional goods disappears under close examination, but it has remained influential.
Social Limits to Growth
(1977) to denote goods which are valued for their scarcity alone: examples given include unspoilt countryside and high educational qualifications. Hirsch argued that competition for these goods was necessarily
zero-sum
. Thus he distanced himself both from doomsters whose then-influential
The Limits to Growth
(ed. D. Meadows
et al
. for the Club of Rome, 1972) had argued that mankind was about to run out of natural resources and from conventional economists who saw no insuperable limits to growth through increasing material abundance. Critics of Hirsch have argued that the concept of positional goods disappears under close examination, but it has remained influential.
positive discrimination
An institutionalized way of enabling those historically disadvantaged by a political system to participate in public life. Positive discrimination implies applying different criteria for selection to representatives of different groups as a way of addressing the existing social inequalities. It can be distinguished from positive or
affirmative action
which implies taking proactive steps to encourage certain groups to participate in the social, economic, and political life of a country. So, for example, there might be a concerted effort made to spread information about job recruitment in particular geographical or social areas by advertising for jobs in local and/or targeted newspapers, magazines, and so on. At times positive discrimination is purely political in nature, as, for example, the quota system initiated by the Labour Party in Britain to increase women's representation within the Party. In some cases it is seen more as a way of increasing opportunity, especially through better education. In the United States, for example, cases of positive discrimination in the 1970s focused on setting aside a fixed number of seats on courses in educational institutions. In India, where perhaps the most extensive system of positive discrimination exists in the world, this policy affects all aspects of life. Places are reserved for those of the lowest
castes
under the Ninth Schedule of the Indian constitution in state supported employment, and in educational and political institutions at all levels. Supporters of the system see this as the dominant groups in society paying off a historical debt, and as an enabling process that will lead to more integrated societies. Critics point out that the system negates the principles of both equality and merit, and further, that it permits whole sections of society to avoid competition, which in turn reinforces prejudices.
SR
affirmative action
which implies taking proactive steps to encourage certain groups to participate in the social, economic, and political life of a country. So, for example, there might be a concerted effort made to spread information about job recruitment in particular geographical or social areas by advertising for jobs in local and/or targeted newspapers, magazines, and so on. At times positive discrimination is purely political in nature, as, for example, the quota system initiated by the Labour Party in Britain to increase women's representation within the Party. In some cases it is seen more as a way of increasing opportunity, especially through better education. In the United States, for example, cases of positive discrimination in the 1970s focused on setting aside a fixed number of seats on courses in educational institutions. In India, where perhaps the most extensive system of positive discrimination exists in the world, this policy affects all aspects of life. Places are reserved for those of the lowest
castes
under the Ninth Schedule of the Indian constitution in state supported employment, and in educational and political institutions at all levels. Supporters of the system see this as the dominant groups in society paying off a historical debt, and as an enabling process that will lead to more integrated societies. Critics point out that the system negates the principles of both equality and merit, and further, that it permits whole sections of society to avoid competition, which in turn reinforces prejudices.
SR
positivism
Term coined by
Comte
to denote the rejection of value-judgements in social science. Influenced by the French
Enlightenment
even as he distanced himself from it, Comte believed in the development of science from its earlier theological and metaphysical stages to one which concerned itself only with observable facts and relationships. Though Comte himself later veered off into belief in a Religion of Humanity, these ideas have become unassailable in economics and strong (but not unassailable) in the other social sciences. In philosophy, they were restated as logical positivism in the 1930s. Supporters of positivism assert that science, including social science, is not the place for value judgments. Its critics assert that a ‘fact’ is not so simple a thing as Comte imagined, and that positivists' purported exclusion of value judgments is itself a value judgement. See e.g.
Pareto
.
Comte
to denote the rejection of value-judgements in social science. Influenced by the French
Enlightenment
even as he distanced himself from it, Comte believed in the development of science from its earlier theological and metaphysical stages to one which concerned itself only with observable facts and relationships. Though Comte himself later veered off into belief in a Religion of Humanity, these ideas have become unassailable in economics and strong (but not unassailable) in the other social sciences. In philosophy, they were restated as logical positivism in the 1930s. Supporters of positivism assert that science, including social science, is not the place for value judgments. Its critics assert that a ‘fact’ is not so simple a thing as Comte imagined, and that positivists' purported exclusion of value judgments is itself a value judgement. See e.g.
Pareto
.
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