Despite recent debate over the relevance and direction of political science as a study, Rogers Smith believes that the field faces a special challenge today because it is “all too relevant.”
Tonight, the Philomathean Society will present a lecture by Political Science Professor Rogers Smith at 6 p.m. in Philomathean Society Halls. Smith will ask and discuss the question: is political science relevant today?
Following Senator Tom Coburn’s proposition in early October to exclude political science from National Science Foundation funding the significance of political science as a field has been debated extensively.
And in his discussion tonight, Smith will take part in that conversation.
Smith wrote in an e-mail that he feels the discipline’s mission is to ask questions about existing political arrangements. This, he explained, can seem threatening to powerful people who benefit from these arrangements.
“Political science faces pressures not to ask too many big, sharp questions that seem too political,” he wrote, “but if it succumbs to those pressures, then and only then does it become irrelevant.”
Smith, who is Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, is a distinguished scholar and speaker. He was involved in the “Perestroika Movement” in 2000 that opposed against the dominance of quantitative methodology in political science. This dominance, the movement argues, results in a lower standard for academic scholarship and creates academic isolation.
According to Penn’s Political Science web site, Smith’s research focuses mainly on constitutional law, modern legal and political theory and American political thought. Particularly, Smith’s interests lie in questions of citizenship, race, ethnicity and gender.
Smith is an ideal choice for speaker tonight due to his tendency to surprise people with a unique and unpredictable perspective, said College junior and Philomathean Society member Alec Webley.
Given the ongoing debate and the prominence of the political science major at Penn, there should be an interesting mix of people attending the lecture tonight. According to Webley, as these lectures are attended by those most interested in the discipline, a meaningful and animated discussion can be expected.
