Political Science Is for Everybody: An Introduction to Political Science
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Abstract
Students often tell me that they feel disconnected from politics and that they do not participate in politics because their voices do not matter. At the beginning of my introductory course this year, I provided a classroom space for students to address these concerns. Students anonymously filled out an online survey and their responses appeared behind me on an overhead screen. One of the questions I asked in the survey was whether they have faith in American democracy. As the responses populated the screen, it was clear that they were strikingly similar: “I believe that American democracy is manipulated in favor of certain people and not others, so while democracy does exist, it does not exist for all.” Another student said, “There are many democratic processes that either don’t work for or don’t help a lot of communities.” This pattern continued: “The government is very biased on who they help, and it seems that they only help non-POC groups.” It makes sense why students feel that their voices do not matter. Many are not represented in political decision-making processes, by political representatives, or in our political institutions—nor are they in political science textbooks. Students enroll in introductory political science courses and learn about the fundamentals of American politics, political theory, comparative politics, and international relations often without ever seeing themselves represented in the material. Dr. Amy Atchison makes this point clear in the Introduction. As a quick activity, she asks students to list three to five scientists, illustrating that knowledge production has been dominated by men of European heritage. Marginalized groups including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, along with women, have been left out, which means their perspectives and experiences have also been left out of the textbooks. Over time, this has disconnected many students even further from politics and reinforces feelings of exclusion from democratic processes such as voting. This is where Dr. Amy Atchison makes an invaluable contribution to the discipline. political science is for everybody: an introduction to political science can be summarized in one sentence: “If you don’t see your identity reflected in the pages of a political science textbook, it sends the message that people like you do not participate in politics—