How Do We Introduce Political Science? A Study of Introductory Requirements at National Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Despite the essential position of introductory courses within most political science departments’ curricula, comprehensive comparisons of introductory requirements for majors have been somewhat rare. In this manuscript, I report on the state of introductory requirements through analyses of data from 381 national liberal arts colleges and universities (164 colleges and 217 universities, respectively) that offer a major or its equivalent in political science. These data show that a great deal of curricula diversity exists across departments: While nearly 30% of departments require at least three distinct introductory subfield courses, another near 30% do not require any specific introductory courses. Despite this diversity, an introductory course in American politics represents the de facto standard introductory course within the discipline. In comparison, a general, cross-subfield introductory course in political science is required in a minority of the departments sampled. My analyses reveal that structural and curriculum-based variables, including the total number of courses required, whether or not a department grants PhDs, and faculty size, are correlated with a general introductory requirement.