Lasswell Harold D. The Political Writings of Harold D. Lasswell
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THE
POLITICAL
WRITINGS
OF
Harold D.
Lasswell
Psychopathology
and Politics
POLITICS: Who
Gets
What,
When, How
-li
<z
^
Democratic
Character
I
1951
'
THE FREE PRESS
•
GLENCOE
•
ILLINOIS
The
Political Writings
of
Harold
D. Lasswell
COPYRIGHT 1951
BY THE FREE PRESS a corporation
Psychopathology and
Politics
Copyright 1930 by the
University
of Chicago
POLITICS: Who Gets
What,
When,
How
Copyright
1936 by
McGraw-Hill Book
Co.
Printed
in
the United
States
of
America
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
In
modern political
science
two volumes have made a
special
impact because
of
their originality of content and
brevity of
expression.
One
is Professor Lasswell's
Psycho-
pathology and
Politics
(1930)
and the
other
is
his Politics:
Who Gets
What,
When
How
(1936).
These
books are
made
conveniently accessible in the present
publication,
together with
a
third book, a wholly
new treatment of
Democratic Character.
Political science is one of the social sciences that
has
been
revolutionized
by
the epochal advances
that
have
been made in recent years in the
study
of human
per-
sonality. Medical psychology has
been
the greatest
source
of
deeper
knowledge
of the mind of man,
especially since
the
discovery
of psychoanalysis by Sigmund
Freud. Lass-
well's Psychopathology and Politics
was
the earliest
full-
scale application
of the
principles
of
psychopathology
to
politics.
It
was
much more than a simple
re-statement and
formal application
of psychopathology to a
special topic.
With the
cooperation of eminent physicians in this
country
and abroad
the intimate life histories
of
active
politicians
were
collected and analyzed in the light of the
insights
provided
by
modern
psychiatry. One of the
leading spon-
sors of the research, for
example, was the late
Dr. William
Alanson White who was the
superintendent of St.
Eliza-
beth's
Hospital,
Washington,
D.
C,
the
chief government
hospital for
the care and study
of the
insane.
In the
Psychopathology
a
sharp distinction
is
drawn
between individuals
active in politics, and '"political per-
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
sonalities."
The
latter are driven
by inner motivations
to
prefer politics
above all other careers. Professor
Lasswell
develops some
fundamental hypotheses
about the "political
man"
as a
social type,
and about some of the sub-types,
such as the
"agitator," "theorist" and
"administrator." The
intensive study
of political
leaders disclosed the working
of
"non-rational" influences in
politics, and indicated that
special
precautions were
necessary if political judgments
are
to
be made on a
relatively
rational basis.
The
Psycho-
pathology
emphasizes
the "politics
of
prevention"
as a
means of
liberating
the constructive potentialities
of man.
It has often been pointed
out
that
the
examination
of
politics from the standpoint of modern
psychology has
revitalized the scientific
study of political behavior by
freeing political science from excessive "legalism."
It
was
the purpose of Politics: Who
Gets
What, When, Hoiv
to
clarify the nature
of
politics
"in a new key." Instead of
defining political science
as the "science of the
state,"
Lasswell conceived of politics as the shaping and sharing
of
values. Among
these values were named such "repre-
sentative" ones as "safety, income and deference." In a
limited sense, of course, political scientists might con-
centrate on "power," defined
as the
making
of
important
decisions. The essential point in any
case
is to view po-
litical behavior
as
part
of
the entire stream
of
behavior of
man in society.
Professor Lasswell
once
characterized Politics:
Who
Gets What, When, How
as an expansion of
the first para-
graph
of
the systematic
volume originally
published in
1935 and
called
World
Politics
and Personal
Insecurity
(republished
in
1950
in A Study
of
Power, together
with
related studies
by
Professors
Charles
E. Merriam and T.
V. Smith). The aim
of
the expansion was to provide con-
crete examples
of
how
to
conceive
of the
political process.
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
When we
contemplate the ebb
and
flow
of public life, it is
possible to make sense of it as
marking
the rise or fall of
social "classes,"
or "skill"
groups, or "attitude" groups,
or
"personality"
types.
If we think
of politics from
a
"manipulative" standpoint,
it is appropriate
to
consider
the
strategy
and tactics of handling "violence," "goods,"
"symbols," and "practices." The succinct and abundant
examples used in the Politics made it
comprehensible
to
students and laymen alike.
For the present volume Professor
Lasswell
has
dealt at
some length with
the
special problem
of Democratic
Char-
acter. The
author begins by showing that Plato and Aris-
totle were keenly aware
of the importance
of
"character"
and "constitution," even asserting
that
"constitutions"
could
be
shaped
by
"character."
However the classical
tradition
has been denied by the subsequent thinkers who
oppose
"material"
to "ideological" factors, and
see
noth-
ing in the mind but what
has
been left
by past contact
with
"material" elements. Lasswell
suggests that such
sharply
conflicting
interpretations may
arise
in part from the am-
biguous way in which the relation between "psychological"
and other
factors is often stated.
He
goes on to say
that
nothing
can be gained
by
opposing the "inner" to
the
"outer," since
the
important elements
of
politics and so-
ciety
are combinations of
both. Human behavior is com-
posed of
patterns
which
are
often in
conflict; and the
conflict
is between one "inner-outer"
pattern
and
another
of
the same kind. It is safe to say that the
discussion of
Democratic Character will be of interest
far beyond the
circle
of professional students and teachers of
government
in this
country and abroad.
The
new
political science
is a
synthesis
of
modern
em-
pirical
inquiry with the tradition
which began,
so
far as
the Western
world is concerned, in
classical Greece.
The
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
connection is
more closely worked out in Professor
Lass-
well's Democratic
Character than in his other
books and
articles where it has been
"taken for granted."
Hence there
is some special
interest attached to this new discussion,
which we are glad to
make
available to a larger audience
at the same
time that the older works are presented
in
more accessible form.