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For some time, the growing stature of political science as an independent social science has been a notable feature in American universities. Yet, up to the present time, the categories of this new field of scientific endeavor have not found their way into the indexing departments of libraries, nor have they been recognized by indexers of other collections. Even the editors of encyclopedias, people of great learning and ability, have omitted some of the most significant topics of political science, because of the lack of any accepted index indicating the range of the field and focusing attention upon its primary categories. The American Political Science Review itself is confronted with the problem of a suitable subject-index. The growing complexity of all kinds of materials bearing upon the work of political scientists, and more particularly the increasing mass of public documents, has become more and more baffling. Even the skillful indexers of the Congressional Record, for example, seem unaware of the major topics of interest for political science, and thus no sign-posts of the usual kind have been made available to workers in our field.

In the times of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, there were no world problems, and there never had been; nor were any anticipated. But today the range of subject-matter dealt with in international conferences and treaties and by the United Nations, its commissions and the specialized agencies, is almost as all-inclusive as the domestic legislation of any nation, and the problems in some respects are even more complicated. Mankind did not plan it that way. Science and technology have given new meaning to the Chinese proverb, "All people are your relatives; therefore expect troubles from them."The greatest evils that afflict and threaten mankind spring from political conflict. The lag of the social sciences behind the physical and biological sciences is in part responsible for these unprecedented problems and for two indescribable world wars in a generation. The fear of other's bombs and ideas has led many nations to enter political struggles that had developed into a state of war in distant regions, impoverishing the whole human race and squandering the patrimony of the world's unborn generations. And the fear of more horrendous wars is strongest among those best equipped to wage them.

The concept of "culture" as used in pol'al sci is considered. The concept of pol'al culture took a long time to be formulated & was first used by Gabriel A. Almond, in "Comparative Political Systems," Journal of Politics, 1956, Aug 18, 391-409. From acceptance to vulgarization was a short step, however. The advantages & limits of the concept & what it refers to are examined & difficulties in conceptual precision are identified. A macro/micro problem is found to exist in pol'al cultural analysis--ie, the polity vs the individual & the fact that the parts may be more than the whole. It is the culture which imparts meaning & even gives substantial structure to the pol'al system. Observations about the performance of a system suggest what att's are probably important in making the system operate as it does. Then the analysis must test whether the subjective factors posited as being critical for system performance do in fact exist at all among the relevant pop. Coherence in personality may provide guides to coherence among larger cultural themes. But pol'al sci theories are not sensitive to the importance of quantitative diff's in att's & sentiments, only to the necessity of "appropriate" att's existing among the critical elements. The critical hyp's must be advanced at the macro level, but there is a lack of capacity for rigor & precision on this level. The concept of culture has provided a promising way of incorporating psychol'al insights into the study of pol'al systems. But it leaves many problems unsolved. More effective ways of describing total systems & identifying what the most critical factors are in improving scholarly ability to understand & predict system performance, are needed. M. Maxfield.