Structural Functionalism Approach to Political Science

PS 101: INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE Fall 2003 Professor Marc Ross Overview. What is politics and how do political scientists study it? If this question were asked about one of the natural sciences, students would be given a short definition, examples of key problems it addresses, and an overview of the methods employed in the field. Political science, however, cannot offer a clear single answer. Rather, political scientists study politics in a wide range of settings and in a variety of ways. Among political scientists there is great disagreement about what the field's core questions are and how best to study them. As a result the majority of political science departments in the United States do not offer an introduction to the field as a whole. Instead students are typically introduced to political science through courses in sub-fields such as American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Politics, or Political Theory in which there is often more agreement about key questions and methodological approaches. At Bryn Mawr, this has been the case for decades. This course has only been taught in the past decade and is based on the idea that the diversity of theoretical and empirical ideas about the nature of politics and how it should be studied can provide the basis for an introductory course. It is intended for students who go on to further study in political science, as well as those whose longer term interests lie elsewhere. The course's goal is not to present a unity to the field that does not exist, nor to pretend that underlying surface differences are unifying core questions. Rather, it is hoped that students will learn how to think analytically about politics in a variety of settings and come to appreciate different way to understand it, key assumptions of particular approaches to the field, and something about the connections between how politics is understood and how it is studied. Towards this goal, students will read a good deal of diverse