Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care?

by Neil Gross

Some observers see American academia as a bastion of leftist groupthink that indoctrinates students and silences conservative voices. Others see a protected enclave that naturally produces free-thinking, progressive intellectuals. Both views are self-serving, says Neil Gross, but neither is correct. Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? explains how academic liberalism became a self-reproducing phenomenon, and why Americans on both the left and right should take notice.

Academia employs a higher percentage of liberals than nearly any other profession. But the usual explanations--hiring bias against conservatives, correlations of liberal ideology with high intelligence--do not hold up to scrutiny. Drawing on a range of original research, statistics, and interviews, Gross argues that "political typing" plays an overlooked role in shaping academic liberalism. For historical reasons, the professoriate developed a reputation for liberal politics early in the twentieth century. As this perception spread, it exerted a self-selecting influence on bright young liberals, while deterring equally promising conservatives. Most professors' political views formed well before they stepped behind the lectern for the first time.

Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? shows how studying the political sympathies of professors and their critics can shed light not only on academic life but on American politics, where the modern conservative movement was built in no small part around opposition to the "liberal elite" in higher education. This divide between academic liberals and nonacademic conservatives makes accord on issues as diverse as climate change, immigration, and foreign policy more difficult.

Genres: Politics, Education, Academia, Sociology, Social Science, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Mark Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoughtfully written study of the "liberal bias problem" in the American professoriate that makes strategic use of survey and interview data as well as historical context. To the degree that Gross is right (and I think that he largely is), it is fair to say that the conventional explanations offered by secular progressive academics are simplistic and self-serving, just as are those offered by conservative critics of the professoriate. But I think Gross is too sanguine about academic culture, particularly within humanistic and social scientific fields, which values true intellectual diversity and intellectual rigor FAR less than it lets on. As those charged with educating students and producing knowledge, academics have a much higher ethical obligation on these matters, so their failures and their hubristic blindness to them are all the more worthy of censure. On this score conservatives are largely justified in their outrage, even if their corrective prescriptions are wanting.

[David Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging perspective.

Statistical analysis seemed a little sloppy.

Authors did a terrific job pointing out that most people take terrifically subtle positions.

What about it? Why do conservatives care? Unanswered! No fourth star for you sir. :)

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting especially if one works in higher education. There's a very brief history of the development on the academic academy along with questions about if professors are liberal and why that might be. The book provides some analysis of the small amount of data and prior research on professors, citizen perspectives and conservative organizations and movements. The title should really be : Why Conservatives Are So Focused On Convincing the Public that Professors Are Liberal.

Note of particular interest to me (on 177p) : at risk of major oversimplification, research institutions stress students coming into contact with leading thinkers, liberal arts colleges promise a life-transformative experience and be challenged to think in new ways, lower-tier 4 year schools emphasize regional connections and services offered to a wide variety of students, and community colleges are way stations to students' futures.

I enjoyed this.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would ideally have given it 3.5 stars. A decent read providing insight into the self-selecting nature of professorial liberalism, though more analysis could have been placed on explaining its origins.

[Dan Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't quite finish this, but it was very interesting.