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The Political Science Profession in 1970: Basic Characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

Earl M. Baker
Earl M. Baker*
Affiliation:
Temple University
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Extract

The number of political scientists registered in the National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel increased 25% from 1968 to 1970, from 5,176 to 6,493. This reflects a “natural” growth of perhaps 15–20%, over the two years while the remaining increase can be attributed to the greater scope of the American Political Science Association survey of political scientists in 1970. This growth in the political science section of the Register occurred despite a more restrictive definition of “professional political scientist” than had been used in 1968. Insofar as the APSA membership list can be used to gauge the completeness of the response, it would suggest that the Register is substantially complete for political science, allowing for the non-professional members of the Association and a probable residue of non-respondents. Political scientists comprise 2% of the total number of United States scientists (313,000 in 1970) in both years. More than half of National Register scientists are in three disciplines, chemistry, biology and physics.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Winter 1971 , pp. 33 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1971

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Footnotes

*

The author, formerly affiliated with the American Political Science Association, served as liaison with the National Science Foundation and assisted the APSA Advisory Committee for the National Register Project. Supervisor for the mailing and coding of questionnaires for the APSA was Mrs. Carolyn Ecker. This report of the preliminary tabulations on basic characteristics is part of a continuing series of analyses sponsored by the Association and the NSF.

References

1 Two other sources of growth information for political science are available for comparison. Over the period since 1960, membership in the Association has increased at the approximate rate of 10% per year, but this includes a higher rate of increase for student members who would not qualify professionally. See “Report of the Executive Director” in Program of the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, 1968, 1969, 1970; and published in PS Special Issues, 1969 and 1970. The percentage Increase in new political science doctorates awarded each year also runs at approximately 10%. National Academy of Sciences, Survey of Earned Doctorates and Doctorate Recipients trom United States Universities (Washington, D.C., series and supplements).Google Scholar

The Association used only its own mailing list in the 1968 survey. In 1970, several other lists potentially including political scientists were used, including the regional political science associations and groups with subfield interests in the discipline such as the American Society for Public Administration, Conference for the Study of Political Thought, etc. Approximately 20,000 persons (including numerous duplications) were contacted, of whom 13,000 responded. Thus in two mailings a response rate of at least 65% was achieved (the duplications preventing exact computation) and the response group was then narrowed down to those qualified.

2 The definitions were as follows. 1968: “A master's degree in political science or 2 years of graduate work with one year of professional experience; or a Ph.D. in political science; or substantial professional achievement In political science; or the equivalent in professional experience.” National Science Foundation, American Science Manpower 1968 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969), p. 265.Google Scholar 1970: “A master's degree in political science or 2 years of graduate work with one year of professional experience; or a Ph.D. in political science; or substantial professional achievement in political science as evidenced by contribution to the professional literature.” APSA Advisory Committee Memorandum to NSF, June, 1970.

3 The 1970 individual, non-student membership of the Association was 7,963. “Report of the Executive Director,” 1970, op. cit.

4 While the populations are not the same, political scientists have also normally been 2% of those receiving doctoral degrees in the past decade, though this figure increased in 1969 to 3%. National Academy of Sciences, op. cit.

5 Previous reports on the National Register have been published in PS. See “Initial Report: Information on Political Scientists in the NSF Register,” Winter, 1969; also Fall, 1969, p. 643. The full report of data on all disciplines is in American Science Manpower, op. cit., from which information for the 1968 survey used in this article was taken. Information on the 1970 survey is from National Science Foundation, “Salaries and Selected Characteristics of U.S. Scientists, 1970,” Reviews of Data on Science Resources, No. 19 (forthcoming).Google Scholar

6 It is also suggestive that the relative order of the median salaries in social science disciplines reflects the order in which they were institutionalized as organizations. The dates are: American Economic Association, 1885; American Psycological Association, 1892; American Anthropological Association, 1902; American Political Science Association, 1903 and American Sociological Association 1905.

7 It should be kept in mind that many political scientists supplement their regular salaries with royalties, extra teaching, consulting or investments. In most cases this extra income is in fact supplementary and does not approach the basic salary. The primary reason for using regular salary in this report, moreover, is its utility as a standard of comparability internal and external to the discipline.

8 Other data reveal that political science is the discipline in which the highest proportion of graduate students support their own graduate study, a finding that complements that found in the National Register Information, both of which suggest a more basic cause. Office of Planning and Policy Studies, National Science Foundation, Graduate Student Support and Manpower Resources in Graduate Science Education (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1968).Google Scholar

9 For example, the studies cited herein, as well as: Eulau, Heinz and March, James G. (eds.), Political Science (The Behavioral and Social Sciences Survey) (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969)Google Scholar; the writer's “A Survey of the Graduate Academic Marketplace in Political Science,” PS, Summer, 1970; Heisler's, Martin O. “The Academic Marketplace in Political Science for the Next Decade: A Preliminary Report on a Survey,” PS: Political Science & Politics, Summer, 1970.CrossRefGoogle Scholar