Liberal bias in academia

The notion of liberal bias in academia is the perception that academia has a had an increasingly pronounced liberal bias. This has been a subject of controversy amongst academics and the general public alike. Whilst the debate whether leftist professors have secured an advantageous position regarding their professional development has intensified, the evidence put forward by both sides of the argument had remained largely empirical. Recent research has provided evidence in support of the argument that institutions of higher education do cultivate faculty bodies with predominantly liberal socio-political views.[1]

Research

Prior to the late 1960s, speculation of the existence of liberal bias in higher education was based entirely on anecdotal reports and observations. Starting in 1969, a series of surveys and questionnaires were conducted throughout Canada and the United States, which supported the previously untested speculations of the prevalence of progressive-style of teaching amongst the majority of professors.[2] A Carnegie survey in 1984 found that professors with liberal political views represented a slightly larger percentage of faculty than their conservative counterparts, constituting 39% of faculty as compared to 34% for conservatives. A 1999 survey conducted by the North American Academic Study Survey(NAASS) in the US found that professors with liberal socio-political views outnumbered their conservative counterparts by a ratio of 5 to 1, with the former constituting 72% of the faculty body and the later representing 15%. This shift to progressivism in institutions if higher education was not representative of the socio-political opinions of the general public. An opinion poll concluded that conservatives within the general public outnumbered liberals by a ratio of 2 to 1 in 1999, with the former constituting 37% of respondents and the latter a mere 17%.,[3][4] Surveys conducted by the Xavier University in Ohio have provided a different explanation of the prevalence of liberal academics in colleges. The survey outlined the so-called 'Self-Selection Hypothesis', which proposed that conservatives were less likely to pursue careers in academia due to a combination of personal preference and belief that they would face more challenges in achieving academic success due in a progressive-dominated field. The study found that conservatives aspired to get into higher-paying jobs, whilst liberals were more likely to be affiliated with community service occupations and were less influenced by monetary gratification.[5]

Implications

The prevalence of progressive professors in institutions of higher education, some argue, has created an environment that prioritizes political correctness above truthfulness. A report by the California Association of Scholars, put together in 2012 for the UCLA, argues that the lack of balance between liberal and conservative viewpoints has contributed to a culture that espouses socio-cultural and political apologists, whilst marginalizing those with center-right viewpoints.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cwu.edu/~manwellerm/academic%20bias.pdf
  2. ↑ http://yoelinbar.net/papers/political_diversity.pdf
  3. ↑ Rothman, Stanley, S. Robert Lichter, and Neil Nevitte. "Politics and Professional Advancement Among College Faculty." The Forum 3.1 (2005): 1-13. Web. 1 May 2016. <http://www.cwu.edu/~manwellerm/academic bias.pdf.
  4. ↑ bar, Yoel, and Joris Lammers. "Political Diversity in Social and Personality Psychology." SSRN Electronic Journal SSRN Journal (2012): 3-5. Web. 1 May 2016. <http://yoelinbar.net/papers/political_diversity.pdf.
  5. ↑ Phillips, James Cleith. "Appendix To: 'Why Are There so Few Conservatives and Libertarians in Legal Academia? An Empirical Exploration of Three Hypotheses'" SSRN Electronic Journal SSRN Journal: 84-96. Web. 1 May 2016. <http://www.xavier.edu/xjop/documents/Hudson.pdf>.
  6. ↑ Ellis, John M., Charles L. Geshekter, Peter W. Wood, and Stephen H. Balch. The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California. Rep. Los Angeles: California Association of Scholars, 2012. Print.{https://www.nas.org/images/documents/A_Crisis_of_Competence.pdf}
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