This paper describes the political science community in the United States, namely, its faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate majors. The study is based on six national surveys conducted by the Carnegie Council in 1969 and 1975. Part one, "Professional Status," points out that the economic position of political science faculty has deteriorated relative to professors in other disciplines since 1969. Political scientists are now among the lowest paid academic scientists. Furthermore, the disciplines are no longer attracting especially able students, partially a result of a poor job market. The doubts of political scientists about disciplinary performance is discussed in Part two, "Academic Assessments." Faculty point out grade inflation and students point out declining classroom relevance. Part three, "Educational Standards and Sociopolitical Perspectives," examines the changing sociopolitical views of faculty and students revealing a stable conservative shift. The final section reports on demographic features of the profession. It is overwhelmingly white, male, and middle class. Affirmative action appears to have had little impact on the composition of the graduate student and faculty populations within political science. Overall the data presented in the report leave one with the sense that political science is a discipline in decline. A substantial portion of the data is presented in 58 tables and 14 graphs. (Author/BC)