Dahl on Behavioral Science and its Approach to Political Science
In a thorough analysis and dissection of behavioral science, Dr. Robert Dahl explores the history of behavioral science and the men behind its design and ingenuity. While exploring its history Dahl takes on the task of critically analyzing what behavioral science was, is, and could be and how the new social science will make itself indispensable to the political arena. In his piece titled The Behavioral Approach in Political Science, Dahl creates five sections where he breaks down his understandings and interpretations of behavioral science and its influence on political science. Section one deals with the history and creation of behavioral, in addition to key figures who contributed …show more content…
These factors ranged from the involvement of Charles E. Merriam who helped to integrate the behavioral approach into an academic setting where it would proceed to be further developed by faculty and students. The second factor was caused by the influx of hundreds of European immigrants who migrated to the states in hopes of avoiding pending conflicts brought on by WW2. Which led Dahl to uncover the third major factor, which was the influence of WW2, which brought with it a desire among political scientists to understand groups, communities, whole populations, and ruling governmental institutions. The fourth major factor was brought on by distinguished scientist Pendleton Herring Herring who had taken the office of the Political Science Association where he openly expressed concern regarding behavioral science’s relationship with “realism.” His concern stemmed from his pre-existing dissatisfaction with previous conventional methods used within the scientific community towards political sciences. The fifth and sixth factors consisted of major philanthropic contributions by wealthy groups to fund R&D and new systems, systems like the Survey method which help create a foundational approach to gathering data in the …show more content…
Of the course of section four, Dahl argues that behavioral science will begin to absorb other subfields within the social sciences due to overlapping interests that many of the fields hold. Fields such as sociology and psychology, two social sciences that seek to explain individual and group actions by constructing theories based on observed patterns which have been uncovered through a scientific process. Dahl makes it clear that the existence of one individual does not make up a political system, but understanding how that one individual may act within a group will lead to the additional understanding of how political institutions
In a thorough analysis and dissection of behavioral science, Dr. Robert Dahl explores the history of behavioral science and the men behind its design and ingenuity. While exploring its history Dahl takes on the task of critically analyzing what behavioral science was, is, and could be and how the new social science will make itself indispensable to the political arena. In his piece titled The Behavioral Approach in Political Science, Dahl creates five sections where he breaks down his understandings and interpretations of behavioral science and its influence on political science. Section one deals with the history and creation of behavioral, in addition to key figures who contributed …show more content…
These factors ranged from the involvement of Charles E. Merriam who helped to integrate the behavioral approach into an academic setting where it would proceed to be further developed by faculty and students. The second factor was caused by the influx of hundreds of European immigrants who migrated to the states in hopes of avoiding pending conflicts brought on by WW2. Which led Dahl to uncover the third major factor, which was the influence of WW2, which brought with it a desire among political scientists to understand groups, communities, whole populations, and ruling governmental institutions. The fourth major factor was brought on by distinguished scientist Pendleton Herring Herring who had taken the office of the Political Science Association where he openly expressed concern regarding behavioral science’s relationship with “realism.” His concern stemmed from his pre-existing dissatisfaction with previous conventional methods used within the scientific community towards political sciences. The fifth and sixth factors consisted of major philanthropic contributions by wealthy groups to fund R&D and new systems, systems like the Survey method which help create a foundational approach to gathering data in the …show more content…
Of the course of section four, Dahl argues that behavioral science will begin to absorb other subfields within the social sciences due to overlapping interests that many of the fields hold. Fields such as sociology and psychology, two social sciences that seek to explain individual and group actions by constructing theories based on observed patterns which have been uncovered through a scientific process. Dahl makes it clear that the existence of one individual does not make up a political system, but understanding how that one individual may act within a group will lead to the additional understanding of how political institutions