Since 2017, the economics major has surpassed the political science major in popularity—something that last happened 56 years ago in 1961. Only 1.77% of all bachelor’s degrees now are awarded in political science, the lowest level ever recorded. By contrast, economics has experienced continual growth with no ceiling in sight. How did this happen to political science, the “architectonic science,” to use Aristotle’s phrase? Why are students opting for data, numbers, and models rather than the human grip-and-grin and give-and-take of politics?

Although it does not directly address this question, Emily Hauptmann’s marvelous and illuminating book, Foundations and American Political Science: The Transformation of a Discipline, 1945–1970, provides reasons why this has transpired. Hauptmann is a Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University and helped found the Association for Political Theory (APT), an organization that wants to retain political theory as a relevant field of study within the discipline (full disclosure, I’m a member of APT and you should join, too).