POLS Y570: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS
Fall Semester 2007
Wednesdays, 6:00-8:40pm
Professor Blomquist, CA 503L, Phone 274-7547, Email blomquis@iupui.edu, Fax 278-3280
Y570 is the “core” seminar in the graduate program in political science. Its purpose is to
acquaint students with the discipline of political science, with the kinds of approaches
characteristic of this discipline, and with the diverse ways in which political scientists typically
think about the vocation of political science. The central theme of the course is that political
science, as a discipline, is an evolved and evolving set of understandings and practices, and that
each individual political scientist is both implicated in this discipline and responsible for making
his or her place in it. The course is designed to sensitize students to the real differences,
methodological and otherwise, that characterize the discipline, but also to the common themes
and objects of study shared by political scientists.
This seminar, then, will examine different epistemological perspectives and methodological
approaches used in the study of political phenomena so as to introduce new scholars to some key
issues they will eventually confront during the course of their research. The rationales
underlying these perspectives and methods will be identified, criticisms of the rationales will be
raised, and responses to these criticisms will be suggested.
Students will be graded on the following basis: 1) their contributions to seminar meetings
through informed participation in our discussion of the readings (25%); 2) their papers, assessing
and comparing three recent political science publications, and examining the epistemological and
methodological approaches underlying those publications (50%), and 3) their presentations of
their papers to the seminar at the last seminar meeting (25%).
Aug. 29
First meeting
Sept. 5
Minogue, Kenneth. Chapters 1-5 in Kenneth Minogue, Politics: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Science
Susser, Bernard. “Introduction.” Pp. 1-2 in Approaches to the Study of Politics.
Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Von Mises, Richard. “Positivism.” Pp. 118-133 in Approaches to the Study of
Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Popper, Karl R. “Science: Conjectures and Refutations.” Pp. 134-165 in
Approaches to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY:
Macmillan, 1992
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Sept. 12
Constructing Science in a Scientific Community, and the Emergence of the
Social Sciences
Kuhn, Thomas S. “The Essential Tension: Tradition and Innovation in
Scientific Research.” Pp. 166-179 in Approaches to the Study of Politics.
Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Susser, Bernard. “Social Science and the Philosophy of Science.” Pp. 101-117
in Approaches to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY:
Macmillan, 1992
Minogue, Kenneth. “How to Analyze a Modern Society.” Chapter 6 in Kenneth
Minogue, Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press, 2000
Sept. 19
King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba. “The Science in Social
Science.” Chapter 1 in Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba,
Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994
Behavioralism and Modern Political Science
Susser, Bernard. “From Burgess to Behavioralism and Beyond.” Pp. 3-15 in
Approaches to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY:
Macmillan, 1992
Dahl, Robert A. “The Behavioral Approach in Political Science: Epitaph for a
Monument to a Successful Protest.” Pp. 27-46 in Approaches to the Study of
Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Easton, David. “The Form of Theoretical Analysis.” Chapter 1 in David Easton,
A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1965
Sept. 26
Dahl, Robert A. “The Concept of Power.” Behavioral Science. Volume 2,
Number 3 (July 1957), pp. 201-215
Conceptualization and Falsification Reconsidered
Oct. 3
Davis, James W. Chapters 1, 3, and 4 in James W. Davis, Terms of Inquiry: On
the Theory and Practice of Political Science. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2005
Examples of Modernist Approaches
Susser, Bernard. “Systems Analysis.” Pp. 180-188 in Approaches to the Study
of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Susser, Bernard. “Structure-Functionalism.” Pp. 202-208 in Approaches to the
Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
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Susser, Bernard. “Marxism” Pp. 421-429 in Approaches to the Study of
Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Oct. 10
Modernist Approaches, cont’d
Oct. 17
Minogue, Kenneth. Chapters 7-10 in Kenneth Minogue, Politics: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000
Rational Choice
Susser, Bernard. “Games, Strategies, and Rational Actor Theory.” Pp. 300-331
in Approaches to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY:
Macmillan, 1992
Brams, Steven J. “The Study of Rational Politics.” Pp. 312-317 in Approaches
to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Oct. 24
Simon, Herbert A. “Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology
with Political Science.” American Political Science Review. Volume 79,
Number 2 (June 1985), pp. 293-304
Rational Choice, cont’d
Jones, Bryan D. “Preface: Prologue to a Grand Synthesis?” In Bryan D. Jones,
Politics and the Architecture of Choice: Bounded Rationality and Governance.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2001
Jones, Bryan D. “Traces of Eve.” Chapter 1 in Bryan D. Jones. Politics and the
Architecture of Choice: Bounded Rationality and Governance. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press, 2001
Oct. 31
Jones, Bryan D. “A Social Species: Substantive Limits on Adaptive Choice.”
Chapter 5 in Bryan D. Jones, Politics and the Architecture of Choice: Bounded
Rationality and Governance. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2001
Interpretivism
Nov. 7
Moon, J. Donald. “The Logic of Political Inquiry: A Synthesis of Opposed
Perspectives.” Pp. 131-228 in Handbook of Political Science. Volume 1. Fred I.
Greenstein, ed. Chicago, IL: Addison-Wesley, 1976
Criticisms of Behavioralism in Political Science
Susser, Barnard. “The Behavioural Ideology: A Review and a Retrospect.” Pp.
76-100 in Approaches to the Study of Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York,
NY: Macmillan, 1992
McClure, Kirstie M. “Reading 95 Theses on Politics, Culture, and Method.”
Perspectives on Politics. Volume 4, Number 2 (June 2006), pp. 343-351
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Nov. 14
Minogue, Kenneth. Chapters 11-13 in Kenneth Minogue, Politics: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000
Looking Ahead
Walsh, Katherine Cramer. “Applying Norton’s Challenge to the Study of
Political Behavior: Focus on Process, the Particular, and the Ordinary.”
Perspectives on Politics. Volume 4, Number 2 (June 2006), pp. 353-359
Davis, James W. “Methods for the Production of Practical Knowledge,”
Chapter 6 in James W. Davis, Terms of Inquiry: On the Theory and Practice of
Political Science. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005
Nov. 21
Nov. 28
Susser, Bernard. “Epilogue.” Pp. 520-522 in Approaches to the Study of
Politics. Bernard Susser, ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992
Seminar does not meet—Thanksgiving break
Presentation and discussion of papers
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