Achievements of the Behavioural Approach

Subjective awareness

The behavioural approach should not be understood only in terms of behaviourism. It is not only concerned with the behaviour of actors but also with their subjective awareness and individual orientations. These individual orientations involve components such as the cognitive (relating to knowledge of political objects), affective (feeling of attachment, involvement, rejection about political objects) and evaluative (judgment/opinion about political objects) aspects.³⁹ The study of behaviour in terms of political behaviour is not merely concerned with directly observable political action, but also with those aspects that relate to perception, attitudes and motivation. As depicted in Figure 1.1, political behaviour takes place in an environment of a host of subjective factors. Behaviouralism, as David Easton says, takes into account subjective awareness. In fact, as Almond and Powell have indicated in their study, political culture refers to the pattern of individual attitudes and orientations to politics.⁴⁰ The behavioural approach does not ignore the subjective aspects of political actions, although it subjects them to observation and quantification.