Why I Hate Political Science, part deux

One of my first posts when I starting blogging in January was about why I hate political science, the discipline I'm currently getting a Ph.D. in. My hatred goes beyond the typical graduate student phase where you dislike your dissertation for about a 6 month period before learning to love it again. (I'm told almost all grad students go through this.) My negative feelings for political science run strong and deep. As I've discussed previously, I am seriously thinking a disciplinary or even career change after my dissertation is done.

As proof for to you non-political science types, here's a link to an article from the most recent issue of the leading journal in my discipline, the American Political Science Review. Check out pages 9-10 in particular (Interesting side note - I worked as an editorial assistant at the APSR a couple years ago.) One needs an undergraduate degree in math to read this stuff, let alone produce an article like this.

I guess I should expect no less from a discipline that has to tack "science" on the end of its name in order to feel legitimate. It's like the penis envy of academia. Of course, I personally subscribe to broader definitions of science as "systematic knowledge" and "structured enquiry." But what do I know? I'm just a disgruntled graduate student.

Okay, Rant over for today.