Why Your Professor Is Likely A Liberal

Sociologists Neil Gross of the University of British Columbia and Ethan Fosse of Harvard studied why professors tend to lean left, and came up with some interesting answers.

Nearly half of the political lopsidedness in academia can be traced to four characteristics that liberals in general, and professors in particular, share: advanced degrees; a nonconservative religious theology (which includes liberal Protestants and Jews, and the nonreligious); an expressed tolerance for controversial ideas; and a disparity between education and income.

Ironically, the more conservatives complain about academia being too liberal, the more it’s likely to stay that way because it contributes to typecasting, one of the contributing factors as to what different professions attract.

To Mr. Gross, accusations by conservatives of bias and student brainwashing are self-defeating. “The irony is that the more conservatives complain about academia’s liberalism,” he said, “the more likely it’s going to remain a bastion of liberalism.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.