The history and growth of political science was the topic of Stanford University Professor Gabriel Almond’s lecture sponsored by the NIU Social Science Research Institute Friday.

Almond said the title of the lecture, “Political Science: Growth and Growing Pains,” was not appropriate and should have been changed to “Separate Tables.” He said this was a metaphor to convey the loneliness of political science in the 1980s.

There are many different sects, and each has its own ideas, he said. He divided the science of politics into four “schools” and delivered information about each one to the audience of about 50 people in the Clara Sperling Skyroom of the Holmes Student Center.

The four schools, he said, are the soft left, hard left, soft right and hard right.

e said political science can be divided into ideology—the theories of the right and left; and methodology—research of the soft and hard. He described soft research as history and hard research as statistical.

The lecture opened with an introduction to the SSRI by director of the institute, Paul Kleppner. Kleppner said the SSRI was the first exclusive research organization founded at NIU.

e said the institute has a twofold benefit to NIU by contributing to its intellectual life and bringing in grant revenue.

Almond has been a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, the University of Minas Gerais, Brazil and Cambridge University.

e has authored 12 books on subjects such as foreign policy, civic culture and comparative politics.

The one-hour lecture was followed by a question-answer session during which audience members asked questions about comparative politics, public policy and gender politics.

A reception for Almond followed the lecture at the SSRI.