Professor Is a Label That Leans to the Left

[undeterred]

By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: January 17, 2010

The overwhelmingly liberal tilt of university professors has been explained by everything from outright bias to higher I.Q. scores. Now new research suggests that critics may have been asking the wrong question. Instead of looking at why most professors are liberal, they should ask why so many liberals — and so few conservatives — want to be professors.

A pair of sociologists think they may have an answer: typecasting. Conjure up the classic image of a humanities or social sciences professor, the fields where the imbalance is greatest: tweed jacket, pipe, nerdy, longwinded, secular — and liberal. Even though that may be an outdated stereotype, it influences younger people’s ideas about what they want to be when they grow up.

Jobs can be typecast in different ways, said Neil Gross and Ethan Fosse, who undertook the study. For instance, less than 6 percent of nurses today are men. Discrimination against male candidates may be a factor, but the primary reason for the disparity is that most people consider nursing to be a woman’s career, Mr. Gross said. That means not many men aspire to become nurses in the first place — a point made in the recent Lee Daniels film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” When John (Lenny Kravitz) asks the 16-year-old Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) and her friends whether they’ve ever seen a male nurse before, all answer no amid giddy laughter.

Nursing is what sociologists call “gender typed.” Mr. Gross said that “professors and a number of other fields are politically typed.” Journalism, art, fashion, social work and therapy are dominated by liberals; while law enforcement, farming, dentistry, medicine and the military attract more conservatives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/arts/18liberal.html

Or maybe its just that people who learn critical thinking come to the conclusion that the Right is full of shit.

[thereismore]

1. Your assessment: I could not say it better.

As the dumbing-down of the nation continues, democracy is in peril.

[zeos3]

33. +1

[duphase]

2. Disagree with the premise.

go to any web site where history profs post and you'll see they're nearly all right-wingers.

[YOY]

8. None that I ever studied under.

But almost every dipshit right-winger I ever met claims to be a student of history. Usually within minutes of conversation one realizes it's student of "selective history".

[whattheidonot]

10. unbiased and up to date.

a good sociologist must be unbiased and up to date. The puzzle is that left wing ideas that go too far create the right wing. Right wing ideas similarly create the left wing. many left wing ideas in Europe dealing with immigration have backfired because of sensitivity issues no one knew how to address. Assimilation became a big problem. Europe is now taking steps to firm up assimilation. The issue is stability. many different factors have to weighted.

[undeterred]

11. Well that says more about the websites than the professors.

In my experience at a University the only fields that are right dominated are business and economics. And in the other fields not everyone leans to the left, but a majority do.

[provis99]

12. engineering profs are right wing, history profs, economics profs,

music profs, American studies profs, philosophy profs, mathematics profs, English profs, there's quite a long list. Frankly, the ONLY area where liberal profs dominate are some of the social sciences, and maybe drama departments.

[undeterred]

13. Link?

Horowitz commissioned a poll that found that more than 90 percent of professors who taught arts and sciences in elite universities vote Democrat.

http://hnn.us/articles/1038.html

[Alcibiades]

18. They vote Democratic

not "Democrat." And of course that's what Horowitz found: he's David Horowitz. The poll itself was done by Frank Luntz, the N was 161, and the sample only included the Ivy League.

[undeterred]

20. The sentence came directly from the article.

I would not have written that they vote "Democrat".

[Alcibiades]

36. Oh, well there you go.

Tells you where they are coming from. ;-)

[Doctor_J]

28. did you just reference a poll from professional right-wing victim Horowitz

Jesus Christ this place has gotten downright frightening.

[YOY]

14. bull. shit.

Even in Business School I found left profs. In undergraduate...not a goddamn one.

[GinaMaria]

15. Seriously?

My university experience was opposite of yours. State School and very conservative. The biz school especially. I always feel cheated when I hear about people being educated by the extreme liberal intellectual professors. Nothing like it where I went. The students and faculty were overwhelmingly conservative. Although it was the 80s a time when sorority girls though Ronald Reagan was hot. I kid you not :puke:

[YOY]

17. Yes. I had a prof in business school who was a former CIA director.

She was about as liberal as they get.

[Alcibiades]

16. The same in economics, too

Probably 80%-20% conservative to ratio there, even if you don't count the business school types. Political science is probably 25% liberal, 25% conservative and 50% completely apolitical because we just study politics without practicing it.

[MineralMan]

3. Intelligence and education are the enemies of the Right.

[FLyellowdog]

4. This merits repeating...

"Or maybe its just that people who learn critical thinking come to the conclusion that the Right is full of shit."
Thank you for your insight. :bounce:

[NeeDeep]

5. Scientists are by far Democrats also

All this indicates is doesn't take much intelligence to lie or mislead or say no or just not give a s#%it about people. Putting something together like health reform takes energy and caring about issues, something reps/cons/liberts don't seem to have.

[undeterred]

9. Unfortunately the lack of government funding

for scientific research means a lot of them have to suck up to corporations for money.

[Hekate]

6. Somehow I thought it had to do with learning to think critically...

... and the fact that the RW has become so obdurately anti-intellectual that William F. Buckley wouldn't recognize it.

Hekate

[nicky187]

7. Being a university professor ...

... is not as fun as it used to be, but it's still the second best job in the world.

The best job in the world is U.S. Supreme Court Justice, but there's only nine of those, so this will just have to do.

[Stuckinthebush]

22. I'm having a blast

Sure the internal politics are mind numbing but once you get past that it can be a great time.

I love my students (for the most part), my research, and my service to the university (for the most part). Good job.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. As one as well, I have the advantage of this being more of a retirement job for me

The pulse of the campus really does energize me, as do my students. I declined tenure track, and teach the 200-300 leve3l courses. Thats looked upon odly in the academic world but that is where the most fun and impact is to be had. Its a good thing I do not need the money.

As for politics, the techie fields are much less contaminated by it since it plays little to no role in courses being taught. For example, discussions on white privilege have no relevance in a C++ class.

[MissDeeds]

29. I love it, too

I've taught everything from 100 level courses to graduate school, and have found it to be challenging and stimulating. Never boring, except for the obligatory meetings which usually serve no purpose.

I agree with the OP; professors do tend to be liberal - across the disciplines.

[undeterred]

32. I taught as an adjunct for two years

but I never wrote a dissertation. It was the greatest job I ever had in terms of being creative and feeling personally rewarded. But it was also the least money for the most work. I don't think our society values learning to think, unfortunately.

[burning rain]

19. There are also inherent factors.

Being a professor is generally more about pursuit of knowledge as a good in and of itself, and less for purposes of moneygrubbing, which is the holy of holies for conservatives.

[Zoeisright]

21. Critical thinking and logical reasoning are difficult subjects.

Only intelligent people can really grasp the concepts.

And Repukes are stupid. It's pretty simple, really.

[depakid]

23. While there may be some truth to that- bottom line is that outright lies don't sell very well

Nor does fundamentalism among certain types.

[bemildred]

24. This is bullshit.

"Leftism" (new word) correlates with education in general. The more education, the higher the correlation. It has nothing to do with whether you decide to teach.

[MadMaddie]

25. I got one for my DU friends

My young Repug co-worker was bragging that most if not all Finance and Economic Professors were Repuglicans....:wtf:

I then looked at him:crazy: and said the following

If those Finance and Economic Professors were so good and they have been teaching for the last 15 years that would explain the previous economy under the previous administration.....just sayin..

[Prophet 451]

27. In my experiance

I have tended to find that university dons were a much more mixed bag than the constant accusations would have you believe. I had liberal, conservative and one libertarian professor. The thing is, while some were conservative, they weren't screaming ultraright wingers and, since the mainstream of conservative thought has drifted ever further toward the radical fringe for the last thirty years, they probably no longer count.

[a la izquierda]

30. Hah, glad I fit the mold...

since this is my chosen career path.
I don't know how anyone can study Latin American history and be a right-winger. I'm sure there are some...they're probably hidden well, particularly if they're from the US. They'd get crucified in Latin American countries if anyone discovered their politics.

I'm not the type to wear a tweed jacket, and I'm not a nerd. I just got a badass tattoo on my leg that I have to figure out how to hide from my students tomorrow...

[VPStoltz]

31. They don't become professors because they expect to paid by the piece.

[Festivito]

34. M$M ala NYTimes trying to convince readers RWingers should be the professors.

It's just that dang stereotyping that stops them.

It has nothing to do with it being people who study diligently to know facts from fiction.

And once again it is safe to not think, safe to be a conservative, safe to be a Republican.

Until, that is, everything falls apart. Health care diminishes to nothing, jobs disappear, retirements goes away in front of your eyes and even more goes away that you won't even know about until later.

Oh yeah, it's the other side's fault. And, all those thinking people are just a result of bias, not thinking.

...on goes the battle. Two sides thinking they are right and the other side wrong while the rich now richer scurry behind the scenes to the bank.

[raccoon]

35. Rec'd. I like your answer better than the article. nt