ual who has suffered chronic unemployment may, for the rest of his life, be satisfied if only he gets enough food to eat. Lastly, these needs are not eradicable but are organic, genetic forces that individuals can nurture but cannot create and can control but never quite destroy, either in themselves or in others. Though organic, however, environmental influences are fundamental for the development, or destruction, of individual human motivation and fulfillment of these individual needs.An Individual/Environmental Synthesis Approach to Political Behavior In Human Nature in Politics (1963) Davies utilizes Maslow’s basic propositions and needs hierarchy with a few minor adjustments. First, recognizing that few, if any, Americans have experienced the severe deprivation of basic physical needs – Maslow’s first hierarchy of need (e.g., water, food, air) – Davies postulates that this need is actually a foundational requirement for all remaining needs. In other words, because Americans, on the whole, can expect to obtain these first level needs automatically and generally are not inclined to worry about whether or not there will be sufficient water to drink or even, for most, food to eat, this should form part of the fundamental foundation of all higher needs. He adds to this argument by pointing out that for those severely lacking such basic needs, consideration of higher level needs within the context of public policy and political behavior and decision-making is a highly ridiculous proposition. Davies (1963: 160) notes, “To assume that ordinary or extraordinary persons in such a hungry condition can in any way concern themselves with matters of public policy is to assume a kind of madness that prefers order, justice, and individual responsibility therefore to survival itself.” Second, Davies adds the element of “tension” to the hierarchy. This tension, as Davies utilizes the term, in...
