Charles E. Merriam

American political scientist

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June 30, 2026

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Charles E. Merriam was a prominent American political scientist who significantly influenced the development of the discipline in the United States. He was a leading figure in the Chicago school of political science, which emerged in the mid-1920s. Merriam advocated for a reconstruction of political analysis methods, emphasizing the greater use of statistics for empirical observation and measurement. He believed that "intelligent social control" could arise from the convergence of politics with fields like medicine and psychology, drawing on insights from psychology to understand political behavior. Merriam's work, along with that of his contemporaries, helped shift political science towards a more empirical and behavioral approach.1

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political science
Developments in the United States
…figure in this movement was Charles E. Merriam, whose New Aspects of Politics (1925) argued for a reconstruction of method in political analysis, urged the greater use of statistics in the aid of empirical observation and measurement, and postulated that “intelligent social control”—a concept reminiscent of the old Comtean positivism—might…
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…figure in this movement was Charles E. Merriam, whose New Aspects of Politics (1925) argued for a reconstruction of method in political analysis, urged the greater use of statistics in the aid of empirical observation and measurement, and postulated that “intelligent social control”—a concept reminiscent of the old Comtean positivism—might…
Read More