What is more, вЂnot only is politics an internally complex concept with a broad and variable set of criteria but each criterion itself is relatively complex and openвЂ™ (p. The same, Connolly argues, goes for politics, вЂa concept particularly susceptible to contests about its proper range of applicationвЂ™ (p. 20) points out, many have argued, fought and even gone to war вЂclaiming to be вЂњdefending freedomвЂќ, вЂњupholding democracyвЂќ, or вЂњhaving justice on their sideвЂќвЂ™. Contests over these concepts are not just вЂacademicвЂ™ they have considerable real-life consequences.

There are many more concepts, the meaning of which are, to a greater or lesser extent, contested. In this section, we have looked at only one concept вЂ“ politics вЂ“ and you can already see what a вЂslippery customerвЂ™ it can be. Concepts in the social sciences can be вЂslippery customersвЂ™ (Heywood, 2013, p. Some have argued that this is the case for most, if not all, concepts in the social sciences вЂ“ they are often more fundamentally contested than those in the вЂharderвЂ™ sciences such as zoology or physics. Politics is much more of a contested concept than the concept of вЂcatвЂ™ and little agreement exists on what вЂcountsвЂ™ as politics. While that may indeed hold for the concept of вЂcatвЂ™, it does not, as you have seen in this section, hold for the concept of politics. Cats are cats, and the meaning of cat is universally shared what qualifies as a cat is not really contested, and no one would actually imagine a cat as вЂwingedвЂ™ and вЂfeatheredвЂ™. But what if little agreement exists about the concept itself? What if the concept itself is contested? WouldnвЂ™t the existence of two different concepts of вЂcatвЂ™ вЂ“ whereby according to one concept cats were вЂsmallвЂ™, вЂdomesticatedвЂ™ and вЂfurryвЂ™ but according to another they were actually вЂsmallвЂ™, вЂwingedвЂ™ and вЂfeatheredвЂ™ вЂ“ reduce the utility of the concept, making it more difficult for us to make sense of the animals we were encountering? While you might agree that having two competing concepts of вЂcatвЂ™ might reduce the utility of the concept, you might also be thinking that the whole premise of this exercise is rather silly. Similarly, having a concept of politics allows us to recognise a host of activities we encounter on a daily basis as having similar forms or properties, and thus as belonging to a distinct class of entities called вЂpoliticalвЂ™.Д¬oncepts allow us to make sense of the world by enabling us to impose form and meaning on what might otherwise appear as formless and meaningless chaos.

Having a concept of a cat allows us to recognise that many of the вЂsmallвЂ™, вЂdomesticatedвЂ™, вЂfurry mammalsвЂ™ we encounter belong to a single class of entities we call вЂcatвЂ™. Concepts are abstract ideas (or mental images) that allow us to make sense of a messy world by enabling us to classify, categorise and order the multitude of things we encounter.

Contested notion definition