Polis Model Research Paper

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- “Simple model of political society
- “Polis= the Greek word for city state city-state, conjures up an entity small enough to have very simple forms of organization yet large enough to embody the essential element of politics
- Market model revolves around the idea of trading for mutual benefit, but deeply rooted/substantially revolves around the concept of personal gain/self interest. This is not to say the market model is “selfish” but rather prioritizes certain needs over others (ex: self needs, or need to provide for one’s family). This results in a competitive environment, with the people attempting to maximize their welfare as resourcefully and effectively as possible. Many coexisting individuals driven to succeed

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- COMMUNITY
- The polis model revolves around the concept that both policy and Politics require community. In contrast to the market model, the polis model starts with a community focus, then narrows in on individuals. This helps to “assume collective will and collective effort” “collective intention”
- The polis model relies on general wants/desires of the group as a whole “collective will”
- Membership relies on the community having certain rules, regulations, and standards. We can see this is all memberships in our society: a club, a school, an organization, a job, etc. These rules can be both set in stone (ex: you must be Jewish to participate in the JCC) or implied (ex: an entirely rich white neighborhood realistically wouldn’t see a poor/middle class family of African Americans moving in) or free health care requires you meet certain rules (independent?

Most acts of kindness result in some sort of self-interest, and cannot be considered altruistic unless there is absolutely no gain to the person doing the altruistic act. This ties into the polis policy as even though this policy is community centered, the the idea of caring for others/working together doesn’t disregard the human tendencies of personal gain (which is an important concept in that some may argue the polis policy doesn't account for human will of personal success- but stone is arguing that is dos as focus on community gain actually is a form of personal gain?)
- moral obligations vs. rules of society
PUBLIC INTEREST:
Page 7 The wants of individuals as well as the general wants of society, can also include individual desires for the community as a whole, which may conflict with desires for self
Often requires a general consensus on topics to meet the desires of the population as whole, which also require some form of rules/regulations what a “consensus” entails
The public interest of the polis is an often disputed topic as people have different ideas of what is best for the community, it is hard to obtain a full agreement of everyone,
The polis needs a defining characteristic to avoid (as much as possible) unnecessary arguments/disagreements