The Impact on Political Science of the Revolution in the Behavioral Sciences

The term "behavioral sciences" is one of recent currency, and its variable meanings may, without a word or two of explanation, cause some confusion. Whether or not they merit glorifying by the word "revolution", the developments in the behavioral sciences in the past three decades have been numerous and impressive. The techniques of the sample survey can claim a place at the top of any list of such developments, not only because they constitute a basic instrument of social research in their own right, but also because their refinement has stimulated a series of achievements. When one turns to the realm of theory, especially theory resting on some measure of empirical verification, the task of evaluation becomes considerably more formidable. Though groupings in political science assume the existence and discoverability of regularities in political behavior, for the "institutionalist" this assumption is usually implicit, a logical inference from his conduct rather than a consciously asserted objective.