This episode of the 聽deals with liberal bias in higher education and what to do about it, with a specific focus on the field of sociology.
, a strong majority (68%) of Americans believe that higher education is headed in the wrong direction. Barely more than a third (36%) of Americans express a high level of confidence in U.S. colleges and universities, down from 57% only a decade ago.
Americans give the following reasons for this low confidence: political agendas, wrong focus/teaching the wrong things, and cost/expenses.
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Is this concern about 鈥減olitical agendas鈥 warranted? Let鈥檚 first take a look at the politics of American professors.
, UCLA researchers found a liberal-to-conservative (L:C) ratio of 5:1 among American college professors.
Other studies show a much larger gap. When analyzed the voter registrations of college professors, for instance, they found a Democrat-to-Republican (D:R) ratio of 8:1. Among the same sample, they found the D:R political donor ratio to be a whopping 95:1.
A discrepancy between the public 鈥 American voters are about 聽鈥 and the professoriate is not a problem by itself. It becomes a problem if it impacts the teaching and research being done at American colleges.
On this count, it seems to have become a problem.
Many academics blur the line between activism and research, letting their leftist beliefs and values skew their work. This includes a number of big claims about systemic racism, police shootings, implicit bias, microaggressions, free markets, sexism, sex differences, transgender issues, single parenthood, IQ, and more. It is of course not the case that all or even most of the teaching and research happening on college campuses is corrupted by ideology. But far too many academics鈥攑erhaps most notably in fields in the humanities, social sciences, and education鈥攎ake high-profile claims about social phenomena that go well beyond what the evidence will support, and these claims frequently align with leftwing ideologies. This can distort the public discourse, workplace practices, and social policy.
You can read a much deeper discussion of this in the book, , as well as the .
On this podcast episode, we discuss liberal bias in higher education, why it is a problem, and what we might do about it. Enjoy!
Episode Audio:
- "Air Background Corporate" by REDCVT (Free Music Archive)
- "Please Listen Carefully" by Jahzzar (Free Music Archive)
- "Last Dance" by Jahzzar (Free Music Archive)
- 鈥淗appy Trails (To You)鈥 by聽the Riders in the Sky聽(used with artist鈥檚 permission)
