Dixon Carter Lee
Headliner
- Joined
- Nov 22, 1999
- Posts
- 48,682
How would you suspect the fact that 95% of faculty is either liberal or liberal leaning has come to be? Would you be suspecting a bias if these individuals were equal in all things short of being black? female?
Just FYI, interesting study!
Since the study was about education I don't think "Black" or "Female" are equivalent attributes here (unless we're talking about a system that still thinks blacks and females are intellectually inferior, which may certainly be the case in some places).
Your question is why are so many faculty members liberal?
First of all, I'm not sure where your 95% figure comes from. The study wasn't about all faulty. It was about social and personality psychologists. So let's just stick to that.
I would say that, despite the suspect science of the study, that the conclusions are accurate -- that scientists prefer liberal colleagues (that's my simplification of the findings). My guess as to "why that is" might be that liberalism is more tolerant of the things science demands (measured observation, nuance, a willingness to not conclude too soon, testing, an unwillingness to codify, the practice of accepting new information and applying it models, etc.) than conservatism, which, traditionally, sticks to the ball game they want to play. That is my unscientific, non-peer-reviewed, simple response to your question.