Viewpoint Diversity in Academia

[The Lost One]

Posted by: Mad Dr Jeffe Posted on: May 28th, 2006, 8:30pm
Quote:It's not academia, but at my office in LA, there are several people who tend to assume everyone around them is as liberal as they are. The aggregation of one side of a polarized viewpoint is a phenomenon not unique to academia but evident in geographic areas as well.  



Tell me about it, I live in Northern VA, everyone just assumes your a conservative here.


Posted by: SaintExtreme Posted on: May 30th, 2006, 6:12am
wait... you're not conservative?....



actually, I find a *lot* of liberal thinking. Which is odd, because I work in small businesses, and you'd think they'd be gung ho republicans.  

It's funny that people equate business with being conservative. Academics seems to spread this stereotype. However, 80-85% of America is involved in business, particularly small business. So, if all business people were conservative, then the US would be overwhelmingly conservative (maybe from a extreme liberal's veiwpoint it is). Therefore, I propose that the business arena is not as conservative as many people believe it is and simply being a business person is not a good indicator of political values.

On the other hand, being a college professor is probably a good indication of a liberal democrat.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

uhm.... "involved with business, esp. small business" means me too
BUSINESS OWNERS is what I was talking about

[FirstMateJack]

Most of the U.S. and business oriented groups are still quite conservative. Most of the United States is actually a touch more conservative than liberal.

However, That does not mean Republican. There are also conservative Democrats. I wish I had the study for the numbers of people who are conservative in view despite  how they are registered.

Middle state Unions are full of gun-carrying, prejudiced, white Democrats who are angry at all the Latinos and Chinese taking their jobs.

Here you have the classic example of how you can have a democrat who is also conservative.

[The Lost One]

Now you are starting to destroy the generic labels. Yes, there are all sorts of Democrats and Republicans and there are all sorts of Liberals and Conservatives. A lot of political scientist will break down the liberal and conservative labels into sub-groups like "social" and "fiscal". So, it is possible for someone to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal (like the current governor of California, the Terminator) or to be fiscally liberal and socially conservative (like the current Senate minority leader, Harry Reid (D, Nev.)).

[FirstMateJack]

I am just saying things out as I personally took them, I was under the impression that that is how people were taking this conversation, not so much R-D, but C-L.

I don't like generic labels, I think very few things can be so specific.

[The Lost One]

The problem is that the generic labels don't work very well. That's why I stopped giving them much credit a long time ago. Too many people associate too much on whether someone is R or D, Liber or Conservative.

Now, when I was teaching at the Univ. of Wisconsin, I found many student had conservative ideas, but could avoid academic discrimination by ignorantly claiming that they were loyal liberal democrats. However, in acadamia, I've found that certain ideas are heavily discriminated against, partically those associated as being conservative. But eventually, a student can no longer be ignorant as to what academics accept. Therefore, merely feigning liberalism is not enough if one wishing to make it in the acadamic realm.