A familiar skirmish in the nation’s “culture wars” has been over politics and ideology on campus. Surveys consistently show that college faculties are overwhelmingly liberal. Currently, about 56 percent of professors claim to be either “liberal” or “far left” while just 16 percent consider themselves either “conservative” or “far right.” Fresh reasons for this persistent trend have been offered by two sociologists. They say the real question to ask is, why do so few conservatives want to be professors in the first place?
Using data from a standard survey of opinions and social behaviors, Neil Gross and Ethan Fosse argue that “typecasting” is at work—that is, a career in academia is “politically typed” similar to the way such careers as nursing are “gender typed.” Theories of gender typing suggest that gender disparities in some careers, such as nursing, exist largely because people think of nursing as a woman’s career. Because of this, far fewer men aspire to become nurses to begin with. Political typecasting is also recognized in other fields: for example, law enforcement and farming are dominated by conservatives, while journalism and social work attract more liberals.
According to the study, stereotypes influence ideas about job choice. Because professors have a reputation for being left-leaning and secular, fewer politically or religiously conservative students grow up wanting to become professors. At the same time, the academic field attracts those who identify with more liberal and secular values. This self-selecting/sorting process is not the only cause for the liberal tilt in academia, according to the researchers, but intentional discrimination did not appear to be a significant factor.
Related Links
- Professor Is a Label that Leans to the Left
This new study by Neil Gross and Ethan Fosse points out the way that typecasting, a form of stereotyping, can be influenced by politics as well as gender or other factors.
(Source: New York Times, January 17, 2010) - Review of Typecasting: On the Arts & Sciences of Human Inequality from International Journal of Communication, vol. 1 (2007)<
This book review by Stephen Duncombe of New York University of Elizabeth Ewen and Stuart Ewen’s Typecasting (2006) provides background to the new study by Gross and Fosse.
(Source: Stereotype & Society, May 8, 2007) - Margin Notes: The Latest on Lefty Profs
This blog in Canada’s University Affairs was written in response to the study by Gross and Fosse.
(Source: www.universityaffairs.ca, January 25, 2010) - Global Citizen 2000: Stereotypes
This Web page is a glossary of basic terms such as prejudice, racism, and religious bigotry that often come up in the study of stereotypes; part of Rutgers University’s Global Citizen curriculum resources.
(Source: Rutgers University; accessed March 31, 2010)
As a former academic, I lean conservative but that is a rarity in academia. After a career in academia, I have formed some opinions about my former colleagues. They lean left because they are infected by the “group think” syndrome. Also, by the very nature of academia, they never learn anything new! It is rare that they learn anything new. They do not read very much outside their academic fields. They teach the same thing over and over again FOREVER!