Liberal academia

From RationalWiki

Liberal academia exists, but it doesn't affect the outlook of students (damn!). Why is academia mostly liberal? Because the more a person ponders the workings of society and the more he or she attains insight into human interaction and public policy the more likely he or she is to be liberal. In other words, the more profound a person's understanding of society the more likely he or she is to adopt a progressive point of view. As a result, there is a correlation between liberalism and education, with liberals being the most educated ideological demographic in the U.S.^[1] Among professors, less than 20% of whom identify as conservative, liberals are most prominent in the social sciences and humanities. Professors in engineering and business departments are largely split. Thus not all academia departments are liberal. ^[2] Only those departments where faculty members are engaged in gaining a more profound understanding of society are staunchly liberal. Even outside of academia, social scientists remain liberal, for they have gained an in-depth understanding of human interaction.

The outlook of professors, unfortunately, does not affect the outlook of students. According to an Washington Post op-ed by right-winger Howard Kurtz: "When asked about the findings, Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom and tenure for the American Association of University Professors, said, "The question is how this translates into what happens within the academic community on such issues as curriculum, admission of students, evaluation of students, evaluation of faculty for salary and promotion." Knight said he isn't aware of "any good evidence" that personal views are having an impact on campus policies."^[2] If academia's liberal views were truly part of a liberal conspiracy, it would be the most miserably failed conspiracy since the invention of right-wing paranoia. If professors were trying to indoctrinate students than why are only half of all college graduates Democrats? Why do just 52% of college educated professionals, a group that includes professors, vote Democrat?^[3] Clearly the outlook of professors does not affect the way students see the world. The political outlook of professors is, therefore, nothing more than a manifestation of the ideological superiority of modern American liberalism.

Contents 1 Current Opinion polls 1.1 University of Toronto Survey 1.2 UCLA Survey 1.3 Carnegie University Survey 2 See also 3 Footnotes

[edit] Current Opinion polls

While percentage of professors identifying as liberal varies with each poll, all polls show less than 20% of professors identifying as liberal. All polls unanimously point to those with most profound understanding of society as the most liberal.

[edit] University of Toronto Survey

This survey asked 1,634 full-time employed faculty members at four year institutions across the U.S. Since only full-time faculty members at four-year institutions were sampled this study is less than reflective. The percentages also indicate that the surveyors spent most of their time in social science and humanities department... but one can't blame them for that.^[2]

• All professors:
  • Liberal:.......72%
  • Moderate:......13%
  • Conservative:..15%

• Ivy League Schools
  • Liberal:.......87%
  • Moderate:.......0%
  • Conservative:..13%

• Liberals by Department
  • Humanities:...........81%
  • Social Science:.......75% (80% for political scientists... interesting!)
  • Engineering:..........51%
  • Business:.............49%

[edit] UCLA Survey

According to Christopher Shea of the Boston Globe "identified a distinct leftward tilt in academia, but a smaller one than you might expect."^[4]

• All professors
  • Liberal:.......42.3%
  • Moderate:......34.4% (It actually asked for "middle-of-the-road")
  • Conservative:..17.7%

[edit] Carnegie University Survey

This survey is wee-bit dated, from 1989. Yet, its results are similar to the ones above. Libertarian Peter G. Klein used this article for his rant on socialist economists. (How far on the right do you have to be in order to no longer be able to distinguish between progressivism and socialism... Hillary Clinton and Fidel Castro in the same camp???)^[5]

• All tenure-tracked professors:
  • Liberal or moderately liberal:.............more than 70%
  • Conservative or moderately conservative:...less than 20%

• Liberals by field
  • Public Affairs:.........88%
  • Ethnic Studies:.........76%
  • Anthropologists:........72%
  • Political Scientists:...72%
  • Economists:.............63%
    • 71% believe income inequality is too high
    • 81% want the government to do something about it
    • Dems outnumbers Reps 2:8 to 1

[edit] See also

• Professor

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ Pew Research Center. (2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue. 7 September, taken from http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=945.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Kurtz, H. (29 March 2005). College Faculties a Most Liberal Lot Study Finds. Washington Post. 7 September, 2007, taken from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html.
3. ↑ Judis, J. B. (19 June, 2007). Back to the Future: The re-emergence of the emerging Democratic majority. The American Prospect. 7 September, 2007 from http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=back_to_the_future061807.
4. ↑ Shea, C. (12 October, 2003). What liberal academia? Boston Globe. 7 September, 2007, taken from http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/10/12/what_liberal_academia/.
5. ↑ Klein, P. G. (15 Novemenber 2006). Why Intellectuals Still Support Socialism. Mises Institute. 7 September, 2007 from http://www.mises.org/story/2318.