Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:14:09.354Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nonacademic Careers for Political Scientists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

Robert S. Friedman
Robert S. Friedman*
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We are hearing a great deal these days about a declining marketplace for our Ph.D.s. The evidence collected by the American Political Science Association and many of its sister disciplines is clear: The number of academic jobs is declining. Yet, despite reductions in graduate enrollments, the more than 110 departments of political science which grant doctorates produced over 765 Ph.D.s in 1974.

What might be done to solve the problem of this imbalance? One proposal recommends dismantling many of our doctoral programs. I have mixed feelings about this. The argument that only the most distinguished departments should continue to grant Ph.D.s, because only they produce a marketable product, is fallacious. In my experience, the most distinguished departments have no better record in placing their doctorates than those which are less distinguished. I have been involved personally in program reviews at a number of institutions of various prestige levels, and I have found that some of the “so-called” marginal programs do extremely well in placement.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Winter 1977 , pp. 14 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper is a revision of remarks made at a workshop on professionalism at the Southern Political Science Association meeting, November 6, 1976. The views expressed are those of the author but reflect much of the deliberations at recent meetings of the Committee on Departmental Services.