From Behaviouralism to post Behaviouralism

The behaviouralists turned post behaviouralists, now admit that they had spent too much time on trivial, and quite often-irrelevant research.

The term post behavioural was used to designate the mood and programmatic intent of the new disasters. Among the major post behavioural tendencies, one could mention the new emphasis on ‘values’, on issues of justice, freedom, and equality. Two main demands of post behaviouralism are relevance and action.

The post behaviouralist accepts the achievements of the behavioural era but seeks to push political science farther and towards new horizons.

Post behaviouralism, David Easton pointed out, was future – oriented, seeking to propel political science in new directions and to add rather than deny its past heritage.

Easton has given some major traits of post behaviouralism and has described them as the ‘Credo of Relevance’ or ‘A distillation of the maximal image’, they are:

The post - behaviouralists raised the counter – slogan that it was better to be vague than non – relevantly precise. There is no emphasis only on techniques.

They say it is more important to apply knowledge for the betterment of society. Thus, values must play a vital role in social inquiry.

Easton says that our job as student of politics is not like that of technician, but job of intellectual to protect human values of civilization.

There must be an opposition to abstract analysis, as well as, opposition to separation of values from research. They also argue that study of politics must have applied component.

Political science, during the behavioral period, had broken itself completely away from the brute realities of politics --- political scientists should reach out to the real needs of mankind.

Finally, Easton says that ‘To know, is to bear the responsibility for acting, and to act is to engage in reshaping society.’

As a matter of fact, the behaviouralists image of science has so far been associated with a technical proficiency in research for reliable knowledge, and the pursuit of basic understanding with its necessary divorce from practical concerns, and the exclusion of value sophistication as some thing beyond the competence of science.

Whereas, post - behaviouralists do not deny the importance of technical proficiency. According to them, research is to be related to urgent social problems and is to be purposive. It is the duty of political scientists to find out solutions to contemporary problems.