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Dec. 21, 2005

Social Scientists Lean to the Left, Study Says

Several studies this year — some disputed — have suggested a political tilt (toward Democrats) among professors. Now a new study is being released saying that social science professors are overwhelmingly Democratic, that Democratic professors in those disciplines are more homogeneous in their thinking than are Republicans, and that Republican scholars are more likely than Democrats in the field to end up working outside of academe.

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The study will appear in the journal Critical Review and its authors argue that it provides more evidence about political bias in academe. But leaders in some of the disciplines studied say that the study overstates and oversimplifies the role of party affiliation in academic life, and that the authors do not provide evidence of discrimination.

The latest study is based on surveys conducted in 2003 of members of various disciplinary associations. On the question of political affiliation, the survey found the following breakdown of Democrats to Republicans:

  • Anthropologists and sociologists — 21.1:1
  • Political and legal philosophers — 9.1:1
  • Historians — 8.5:1
  • Political scientists — 5.6:1
  • Economists — 2.9:1

The professors were then asked a series of questions on political, economic and social issues, and the survey found wide agreement among the Democrats, but less agreement among the Republicans, and the authors suggest that non-liberals fall in both conservative and libertarian camps. The survey also analyzed data for scholars who ended up working outside of academe and found that Republican scholars were more likely — across disciplines — to be working outside of academe than in academe.

So what does this mean?

In an e-mail interview, Daniel Klein, one of the authors and a professor of economics at George Mason University, said that it demonstrated “solidly” that most social science professors are “leftist and statist, and that they have a narrow tent.” He also said that the data on scholars outside of academe backs up the claims made by conservative critics about ideological bias in the academy.

As for the variations by discipline, Klein said that he thinks “the study shows that the academics across the disciplines are more alike than different.” Even as an economist (and a libertarian), he said he found the results “depressing.” But he said that he was not surprised that economics had more political balance than other fields because the discipline “got its legs when (true) liberalism was ascendant.” In contrast, he said, “sociology got its legs later, and almost as a reaction to Smithian liberalism.”

Other social scientists have quite a different take on the findings.

Troy Duster, past president of the American Sociological Association, said he was not surprised that Democrats far outnumber Republicans in his discipline. But he said that the suggestion that “some kind of conspiracy” was at work simply was not true. Duster said that the fact that there are more Democrats than Republicans doesn’t show anything about the kind of scholarly work done, and that there is a wide variation of scholarly views within the field.

Duster, who is director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge, at New York University, said that sociologists and anthropologists, by their training, “look at issues of social stratification and social inequality” and do so from the perspective that inequality is not a good thing. People who spend their professional lives focused on inequalities are probably likely to have “a more progressive orientation,” he said, than people whose professional lives focus on other issues.

In 30 years of serving on search committees, he said, he has never once seen a candidate criticized or rejected for being conservative or a Republican. “There are conservatives who have good jobs in academe,” he said. The emphasis in hiring is properly placed, Duster said, “on publication records, not political affiliation.”

Michael Brintnall, executive director of the American Political Science Association, said he wasn’t shocked by the data because “the lore all along has been that political science probably does fall in between economics and some of the other social sciences.” But he rejects the idea that his field is skewed because of party affiliation.

Britnall said that political science journals and discussion groups are full of “healthy debate” over issues and that people of all political views “talk pretty hard” about what they see as the flaws in ideas. “There certainly is not an obvious party line for the discipline,” he said.

To the extent that there are divisions within political science, Brintnall said that their sources are more likely to be methodological than partisan. Some political scientists base a lot of their ideas on rational choice theory, he said, while others pay more attention to culture, to cite just two examples of approaches. The former group is intellectually closer to economics and the latter to sociology, he said. But even if that translates into a Republican/Democratic split as well, the source of the difference is methodological and the partisan correlation doesn’t work for all scholars.

“It’s very hard to align people just on party identification,” he said.

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Considering the statistical findings, it’s no surprise that a Republican Congress is cutting higher education funding.

Hans Gesund, at 8:20 am EST on December 21, 2005

Not the only leaners

Certainly it’s a concern if the folks who guide young people are overwhelmingly of one political persuasion or another. Polls say that the professoriate is 90% Democratic and the military officer corps is 90% Republican. Do we need some sort of exchange program?

When I was in graduate school, the free-enterprise types seemed to tilt toward business school, and the social justice types toward the humanities abnd social sciences. It appears that social workers are still overwhelmingly Democratic and CEOs Republican. Should we ask a certain percentage of each to trade places?

Bill Murphy, at 8:38 am EST on December 21, 2005

It’s okay to have young people influenced by liberal professors. It provides balance. When the students graduate, and start earning a living, the smart ones become conservatives anyhow.

JMF, It’s okay, at 9:06 am EST on December 21, 2005

The problem is not party affiliation, but this:

“The professors were then asked a series of questions on political, economic and social issues, and the survey found wide agreement among the [vast majority in each field, ie Democrats]”

So we have people who profess to be intellectuals, to live the life of the mind, to locate and judge evidence, who actually already agree on the issues.

This was my experience; no new ideas need to apply and especially no challenges to the conventional thinking. New thoughts/interpretations are just not intellectual.

OutofHigherEd, at 9:32 am EST on December 21, 2005

More education = More liberal

Studies have also shown a historical trend that individuals become more liberal with the more education completed. Should we then stop educating our nation in order to ensure political balance?

It seems that because of or in spite of any political bias in higher education, the US has a pretty balanced political landscape. We all face many more important issues than whether or not there is a political bias in the faculty of our colleges and universities.

Lucas, Let it go, at 9:36 am EST on December 21, 2005

Feudi, I think you meant to say 92% of faculty that contributed to a candidate, contributed to Mr. Kerry. The reason that I ask, is that, in looking at a number of university towns on fundrace.com, I didn’t find most faculty members listed. (And the 92% Democrat figure didn’t bear out, anyway.)

Can someone provide a cite for that statistic on military officers? Does it differ by branch? Does it includes the USCG? What about enlistedmen? Do they vote for Democrats.

Many people don’t have the same sort of party-loyalty that people seem to expect. Most CEOs I know contributed to both parties. Many people are independent or don’t vote on party lines. For better or worse, most legal and policy issues are too complex to fit into a slogan that most people can understand, so people with the sophistication to understand a at least two given issues might find themselves switching between parties. (I, myself, don’t vote, except for immediate family members.) To that end, I am related to politicians and political appointees from both parties, and, for the most part we get alone.

Larry, at 10:03 am EST on December 21, 2005

Social Scientists Lean to Left

Apparently, the editors of Critical Review and other Horowitz lemmings did not study logic, since they still haven’t made their case on the most important question of all: do right-leaning or left-leaning professors bring their biases to the classroom? I’ve heard plenty of anecdotes on both sides, no empirical evidence. I’m a member of the majority (left-leaning social scientist) and most of my students neither know this nor care. My job is to teach them to think for themselves. I just finished supervising a doctoral student’s research project on an institution he loves and I despise. And he will never know it, because it’s not relevant. Those who continue to produce these reports as “evidence” of problems in higher ed have no idea what goes on inside the classroom, nor do they care. This is a political agenda, not an educational one.

Hoosier Prof, at 10:37 am EST on December 21, 2005

social science is left?

I’m one of the lefty sociologists that probably responded to this survey. I think I recall it. First off, so what? Do we have any evidence that things are any different today than before? Was there more balance in the past? What difference does it make anyway? Until you can show that party ID makes any difference to what folks bring to the classroom and in their relationships with students, it matter none.

But, students always want to know where I sit on things. I tell them it matters not a whit, the only thing that matters is what they think and why, and what sociology can bring to that understanding. But, the post-modern harping on both sides of the ideological line has had its effect because many students are brand shopping. They will only “believe” those who they share the same brank. Luckily, these are still relatively few. They are among the most closed minded of all students.

Lastly, one can see a liberal/conservative split in sociological theory. A theory called functionalism is a “conservative” theory. Myself, a lefty prof to be sure, prefers to teach students how think like a functionalist because it is easier to have them do that than other theories. It is a good place to begin. Some may stay, some may leave and develop other orientations. But regardless of the particular theoretical/methodological perspective they adopt, it is all sociology.

a lefty who votes for Republicans (sometimes)

lefty prof, at 11:56 am EST on December 21, 2005

Lies and Statistics

There are so many methodological problems with this study that any specifics are essentially useless. We simply don’t know if the members of these associations reflect all the professors in their field. But I do want to counter specifically Klein’s claim that professors are “statist” and have no diversity of opinion. What this means is that few professors (just like few Americans) are libertarians. Klein’s survey declares that unless you think the EPA, OSHA, the minimum wage, public schools, and progressive taxation should be completely abolished, you’re a statist. Since almost everyone wants these things to exist, Klein concludes that there’s no diversity of opinion in academia. It’s simply a bad survey manipulated for ideological purposes.

John K. Wilson, at 11:57 am EST on December 21, 2005

Skewing Data

Two points: 1. The division of political beliefs into “Democrat” and “Republican” is way too broad; there are more like 9 distinct ideological positions across across the U.S. For example: is opposition to the Patriot Act “Republican,” or “Conservative"? What does one do with Russ Feingold and Larry Craig’s partnership in stopping the renewal? Or Feingold’s support from the NRA?

2. The Bush war on science and the constitution also skews the results. Robert George, the conservative Catholic philosopher who teaches at Princeton (and whose influence on the Bush Administration in 2001 got Ashcroft appointed) came out against Bush in 2004 (in a cover story in the New Republic). Is George therefore a “Democrat"?

I also could ask readers to check out the ideological orientation of the economics department at George Mason, which is hardly “fair and balanced,” either.

Jim, Professor at University of Jesusland, at 11:57 am EST on December 21, 2005

First move

” .. social workers are still overwhelmingly Democratic and CEOs Republican. Should we ask a certain percentage of each to trade places?”

Well .. given all the empirical studies to date show a 99-1 bias toward one political party in soft-side academia — but 50-50 political split in engineering and business colleges — who do you think, ought to make the first move?

While you’re trying to decide — why don’t we just stop the money-dispensing process for a while? Perhaps that will help speed things along.

Paul Hewson, at 7:16 pm EST on December 21, 2005

Do we need an “affirmative action” based on ideology?

It looks like many people responding to this story on this forum favor some kind of affirmative action in academia, based on ideology or political beliefs. I wonder what kind of mechanism do you have in mind? Quotas? How about arranging regular reviews of academic departments, forcing them to hire or fire members of political parties to restore the “fairness and balance"? Who would make the decisions on the ideological imbalances within academic departments, and on the number of tenured Republicans or Democrats that is appropriate or tolerable? Who would supervise those regulatory committees? All this cumbersome set of rules and regulations would create the new host of problems akin of those faced by communists in Soviet Union and other authoritarian regimes desperately trying to protect ideological purity of their nations.Wouldn’t it be more efficient to leave things as they are and stop whining already about “liberal biases” and poor “oppressed” convervatives in academia?

K.T., at 4:27 am EST on December 22, 2005

NO

Almost no one favors discrimination in the form of affirmative action in favor of conservative professors. The solution is a little different and is generally refered to as the academic bill of rights. You may have heard of it. It needs some modification and clarification, however, it would prevent hiring on the partial basis of political position to be so prevalent.

Kevin, Undergraduate, at 1:22 pm EST on December 22, 2005

Face facts. Most conservatives and neoliberals are too stupid to do social science or philosophy in bona fide Universities. That’s why we’ve seen the proliferation of private ‘foundations’ and ‘think-tanks’ since the 1980s. If you think the term ’stupid’ is unfair, try the Luwig von Mises site where you’ll find them busy discussing the principle of ‘finders-keepers’ as a moral foundation for economic life.

Steve Hall, at 5:51 pm EST on December 23, 2005

faculty political bias

Paul Hewson made a great point. Studies show that amount of bias among social science faculty was far, far higher than the amount of bias in the engineering and business faculty by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1.

Do the math.

It’s pretty clear what’s up in Higher Education, and it does not bode well for academic freedom. One expects a bit of liberal bias as that is normally the case among younger people, but these huge differences are, or should be a matter of concern. I am not naive enough to believe these factors do not influence faculty behavior and teaching.

I’m not sure what, if anything, should be done, can be done, or will be done. Maybe just getting the truth of the matter out in the open is enough to foster change.

feudi pandola, at 11:04 am EST on December 27, 2005

Bias on Campus — We All Lose Out

The most the most valuable education would be one where my children were exposed to a wide spectrum of views. That is very hard to find on liberal arts college campuses. My children will be less well prepared for life because of the lack of opportunity for open debate.

fps, Parent, at 11:35 am EDT on September 19, 2006

It’s things like this that make it hard to be a conservative social science major. All you can do is write all your papers as if you are liberal and keep your mouth shut in class no matter what ideas you have to better the world.

Danielle, Northern Michigan University, at 11:05 pm EDT on March 26, 2007

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