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Will We Ruin Them for (Civic) Life? Analyzing the Impact of Teaching Rational Choice in Introductory Courses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

Sue E. S. Crawford
Sue E. S. Crawford
Affiliation:
Creighton University
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Extract

This article revisits a debate between Jurg Steiner and Paul Johnson (Johnson 1990; Steiner 1990) over the civic implications of teaching rational choice that appeared in PS a little over 15 years ago. That debate summarized key contemporary arguments about the possible civic implications of teaching rational choice that likely still reverberate in department and conference discussions today. Despite numerous books, articles, and conference sessions on the perils and pluses of rational choice in scholarship, very few empirical studies examine the civic consequences of learning rational choice in undergraduate political science courses. This article reports the results of a study that attempts to do just that; to measure rational choice influences on students' civic attitudes.

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 387 - 391
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

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