ABSTRACT
With increasing frequency and self-assurance, the scientific objectivity of American social science is proclaimed by some of its prominent practitioners. The behaviorial "revolution" in political science may have run its course, but it has left in its wake both obscurantist criticisms of empiricism, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, an unquestioning belief in "science." Several interpretations of the decline-of-ideology writings are possible. First, one might simply dismiss this literature as reflecting a much too narrow focus on certain undeniable changes in the rhetoric, and even in the perceptions and prescriptions, of some contemporary Marxists. Second, it is possible to sidestep the fascinating subject of broader comparative ideological analysis and concentrate instead on the central proposition that runs through much of this writing, namely, that ideology tends to wane as societies reach levels of social and economic modernization typified by several Western countries.
