Why are faculty members liberal?
Faculty members come in every shape and size, political belief and
personality. While there are indications that the majority of faculty have
liberal leanings, there is also a pendulum of change that from time to time,
or institution to institution, make this the exception and not the rule.
However, there is ample research that those who enter education at
the college level, do tend to be liberal by nature.
I have often been challenged by conservative students as to why
I have often been challenged by conservative students as to why
my examples are so "liberal". To begin with I consider myself a
moderate, swinging the spectrum depending on the issue. For example,
I am pro-life but willing to give the woman the final choice (It is not
ours to judge, but the Lord's, and we believe in a compassionate Lord).
I am pro-health care and providing for the least of our brothers, which
includes our responiblity as a people, meaning a government, to do so
("We the people" and "government of the people" have deeper meaning
than elections). I tend to be pro-defense but was against our invasion
of Iraq. In other words I am as complex and changing as the next guy.
We all change over time, particurally if we read, reason, think and
are open to change (part of the definition of liberal).
To begin with liberal ideas and concepts have been aligned with education
To begin with liberal ideas and concepts have been aligned with education
from the beginning of the profession. When a mind is educated, it changes,
and change, by nature, is liberal.
My own feelings are that any profession that does not pay large
My own feelings are that any profession that does not pay large
dividends and allow for forty hour work weeks attracts those who
believe in it, not those seeking the funds most conservatives seem
to be motivated by. Members of the media enter the media out of
avocation and passion. Teachers teach because they believe in what
they do and in their responsibility to the next generation. Or at least
they should. Both are liberal beliefs or motivations. An interests in
being an agent of change, or service, are by nature liberal philosophies.
There are also studies that how the higher a persons education level,
There are also studies that how the higher a persons education level,
particurally a liberal arts education, the more likely they are to be
liberal in their beliefs and attitudes. The reason for this is that
someone who reads, balances all views, and reasons it through
find themselves more open to opposing viewpoints, more willing
to explore new ideas and more open to change.
If your goal is spending time with family, collecting toys, living in
If your goal is spending time with family, collecting toys, living in
large home, becoming a part of the statu quo, you are less likely
to take the time to study, immerse yourself in and question the
universe around you. You become, by nature, resistant to social
change, or conservative.
So it is that this summary form the Chronicle of Higher Education,
So it is that this summary form the Chronicle of Higher Education,
based on two studies and a New York Times article, caught my eye...
From on the Chronicle of Higher Eduction and the New York Times:
From on the Chronicle of Higher Eduction and the New York Times:
January 18, 2010, 11:48 AM ET
Faculties Are Liberal Because Conservatives Don't Seek
Academic Careers, Study Finds
The oft-noted dominance of liberals on American faculties has
spawned a host of research about the source and effect of the pattern, but according to an unpublished study described in today's New York Times, the past research has be
en focused on the symptoms, not the cause.
Rather than ask why most professors are liberals, the study
Rather than ask why most professors are liberals, the study
finds a more fruitful line of inquiry is to ask why liberals seek
to become academics, and conservatives do not.
The new research -- "Why Are Professors Liberal?," by Neil Gross,
The new research -- "Why Are Professors Liberal?," by Neil Gross,
of the University of British Columbia, and Ethan Fosse, a doctoral
student at Harvard, both sociologists -- says that faculty positions
are "typecast" just like any other jobs that are also overwhelmingly
held by one gender, such as nursing (women), or one political outlook,
such as law enforcement (conservative).
"Occupational reputations affect people's career aspirations," said Mr. Gross.
The research, which echoes similar findings in a paper published
"Occupational reputations affect people's career aspirations," said Mr. Gross.
The research, which echoes similar findings in a paper published
two years ago by Matthew and Kellie Woessner, found that
intentional discrimination against conservatives in hiring was
an insignificant factor in the pattern; rather, conservatives
were simply choosing not to enter the field.
Differences between Liberals
and Conservatives make them
self-sorting.
The following is a summary of the study referred to in the Chroncle
story above. It report on studies by a husband-wife research team.
Matthew Woessner, an assistant professor of public policy at
Pennsylvania State University. He is a conservative Republican.
April Kelly-Woessner, an associate professor of political science
at nearby Elizabethtown College. She describes herself as a
moderate Democrat.
"The idea that professors are liberal has been known since the 50s,"
says Solon J. Simmons, an assistant professor of conflict analysis
and sociology at George Mason University
, whose own recent study
, whose own recent study found that 90 percent of professors called themselves liberal or moderate.
"But the Woessners actually have something new here. I think they
are some of the first to do this kind of work."
The Woessners have peered into the psyche of conservative
undergraduates to find out why so few of them want to earn Ph.D.'s a
nd become professors. Their paper on the topic, "Left Pipeline:
Why Conservatives Don't Get Doctorates," is available online
and will be published as part of a book published by the
American Enterprise Institute.
The Woessners found that liberal students have values and
interests that point them to careers in academe, while most
conservative students do not.
"The personal priorities of those on the left," the Woessners conclude,
"are more compatible with pursuing a Ph.D."
Rush Limbaugh Junkie
Mr. Woessner is a lifelong Republican who has been a Rush Limbaugh
junkie and watches Fox News. But he says the prospect of a career
in academe never seemed foreign.
David Horowitz, the conservative activist, has staged a national
campaign for colleges to hire more conservative professors, and
he tells stories about right-wing students who have been turned
off by hostile leftists in the classroom. He even proposed an
"academic bill of rights," which encourages colleges to foster
a variety of political beliefs and become more intellectually diverse.
But Mr. Woessner says he never confronted intolerance in the
classroom. Even some of his most liberal professors went out
of their way to solicit his views.
To find out how students reacted when professors expressed
political views, the Woessners distributed questionnaires in 2004
to 1,385 undergraduates in political-science courses at 29 colleges
and universities. They asked the students to indicate whether they
thought their professors were conservative, moderate, or liberal.
And they asked students about the quality of classroom teaching.
What they found was that students who believed their professors
had the same politics they did rated a course more highly than
students who didn't. The Woessners also found that students were
less interested in a course when they believed their professors'
political views clashed with their own.
They published their findings in a paper called "My Professor Is
a Partisan Hack: How Perceptions of Professors' Political Views Affect
Student Course Evaluations," in the July 2
They found that in a variety of ways, conservative students were less
interested than liberals in subject matter that often leads to doctoral degrees,
a
nd less interested in doing the kinds of things that professors spend their time
doing.
For example, liberal students reported valuing intellectual freedom,
creativity, and the chance to write original work and make a theoretical
contribution to science. They outnumbered conservative students two
to one in the humanities and social sciences — which are among the
fields most likely to produce interest in doctoral study.
Conservative students, however, put more value on personal achievement
and orderliness, and on practical professions, like accounting and computer
science, that could earn them lots of money.
The Woessners also found that conservative students put a higher priority
than liberal ones on raising a family. That does not always fit well with
a career in academe, where people often delay childbearing until after
they earn tenure.
The research led the Woessners to conclude that if higher education
wants to attract more conservatives to the professoriate, it should
smooth the way financially, offering subsidized health insurance
and housing for graduate students, and adopting family-friendly
policies for professors.
But Mr. Simmons, the assistant professor at George Mason,
says that if the Woessners are right, there may not be an easy
solution to the political imbalance in academe. "If it's true that
people are self-sorting," he says, "what is to be done?"
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