Political views of academics

[RFayette]

Doctors by and large despise all change done to any medical system anywhere at any time (aside from stuff like "more money!!!"). They opposed the formation of the NHS over here and then abruptly changed their mind and swung the other way after about ten years. Because Tories typically push the strange reforms (agency staffing, increased amount of private-sector drafted middle-management and the insanely complicated NHS reform bill of last parliament) they will go with the party that treats them well (they also dislike Tory anti-immigrant views which would leave the hospitals understaffed . I was mainly confused at the Nurses being GOPhers, because they are typically fairly low paid and vulnerable to being replaced by agency staff and "cost-cutting".

Many nurses are doctor's wives (at least in my area), so they tend to be conservative due to the presence of them in the family.  Academic studies I have seen have consistently shown nursing professors in the United States to be pretty much the most conservative department behind agriculture.  It's an interesting question why this is, though. 

[Del Tachi]

I'm an agricultural economics major, all of my instructors are Republicans.

Out of curiosity, do they tend to vote GOP because of the party's general friendliness toward agriculture, or more based on social issues/military/"rural culture" generically? 

Its a healthy mixture of both, but the former probably helps with keeping the department so overwhelmingly GOP. 

[RFayette]

I'm an agricultural economics major, all of my instructors are Republicans.

Out of curiosity, do they tend to vote GOP because of the party's general friendliness toward agriculture, or more based on social issues/military/"rural culture" generically? 

Its a healthy mixture of both, but the former probably helps with keeping the department so overwhelmingly GOP. 

Another hypothesis I have as to why nursing/business/ag professors tend to be far more conservative than the average professor is that many of them (at least in business I know) spent at least some time in the private sector, unlike the vast majority of others in academia.  Is this true for the ag professors you had?  I assume most of them grew up on a farm (or worked on it as a kid), but do many also manage land in addition to teaching?

[Rockefeller GOP]

I'm an agricultural economics major, all of my instructors are Republicans.

Out of curiosity, do they tend to vote GOP because of the party's general friendliness toward agriculture, or more based on social issues/military/"rural culture" generically? 

Its a healthy mixture of both, but the former probably helps with keeping the department so overwhelmingly GOP. 

Another hypothesis I have as to why nursing/business/ag professors tend to be far more conservative than the average professor is that many of them (at least in business I know) spent at least some time in the private sector, unlike the vast majority of others in academia.  Is this true for the ag professors you had?  I assume most of them grew up on a farm (or worked on it as a kid), but do many also manage land in addition to teaching?

I can only speak to one field of business (finance), but I don't think I had a single professor (i.e., not a TA) who didn't have private sector experience.  All seemed to be fiscally-motivated Republicans.

[Bismarck]

I'm an agricultural economics major, all of my instructors are Republicans.

Out of curiosity, do they tend to vote GOP because of the party's general friendliness toward agriculture, or more based on social issues/military/"rural culture" generically? 

Its a healthy mixture of both, but the former probably helps with keeping the department so overwhelmingly GOP. 

I'm in AG as well. I know the anti- GMO crowd is a major turn off to my professors. The AG industry and AG academia are usually pretty closely aligned, so I would assume the main issues that drive people in the AG industry to vote republican are true for AG academia as well. Mostly, they oppose more regulations on farms, are very pro GM crops, are pro free trade, and are more likely to have come from rural areas.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Sociology/Anthropology - the only disciplines where it's not rare to stumble upon academic marxists and political marxists; less rigid/orthodox "radical" left-wing sentiments are really prevalent in the faculty of both disciplines. i'd wager that there are approximately 0 anthropologists who are republicans and only a handful of sociologists who are republicans
History - history is a very broad discipline that caters to interests that are all over the spectrum. it's arguably the most politically "diverse" discipline in academia; there are plenty of conservative historians who specialize in military-type studies, plenty of marxists, plenty of left-leaning types etc. There aren't many academic fields that contain non-negligible numbers of Republicans and Marxists/fellow travelers; History is an exception.

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Here's some actual data. It's pretty disappointing that there haven't been more extensive surveys of faculty that make distinctions between, say, "Conservatives - Moderates - Liberal - Radical Left/Far-Left". I imagine that the difference between political philosophers and political science or history and political philosophy would become more clear in this case.

[HAnnA MArin County]

I did journalism. Enough said.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

In my experience as a history/geography/educational studies student, I would say all of my professors have leaned to the left. I can think of two who might at most be moderates or Independents and interestingly enough both are historians from the US. My philosophy of education professor is a strange cookie who identifies as a pragmatist, but since it's hard to observe any pragmatism on the political right these days, I'd say he's a leftie. I do know he supports Trump as a way to give America what it deserves, but his serious choice is Sanders.

But with these academic types there are various strange manifestations of leftism. You've got your socialists/Marxist, who I most often saw in the Geography Department, but you've also got anarchists who reject authority entirely.

Thank goodness these people are so far divorced from the world that their work actually means nothing! Except the ones who are involved in educational studies/teacher training, but their strong ideological pronouncements mostly just have to do with inclusion and social justice within the current frame of our capitalist world order, so nothing too problematic unless you're a bigot.

[RINO Tom]

Just for fun, I'll give my anecdotal senior year business professors who made it obvious what they thought:

Marketing - Huge environmentalist and clear liberal but in a weird "cowboy" type of way (hated political correctness and "wussies," but clearly hated the "business elite" way more); was big on new-age marketing and people-above-profit type stuff, etc.

Corporate Finance - Huge Republican, the type of guy who'd mock someone for voting based on social views; called our Representative (Dave Loebsack) "Dave Loeb-sack-of-sh^t," LOL.

Financial Accounting & Reporting - Never made it clear, but he seemed sympathetic to less regulation and was Mormon, so I'm guessing Republican.

International Finance - Seemed to be a "business Democrat," is an Indian immigrant.  He was very pro-free trade and seemed to see "fiscal liberalism" (sorry Crab Cake!) as simplistic and unrealistic, but I know his son, and he's a Democrat, I believe.

The rest didn't make it overly clear.  This was at the University of Iowa, by the way.  I will say, most STUDENTS I knew in the business school were clearly Republicans (very much of the fiscal-oriented type ... wouldn't find many SoCons).  This makes sense, as the business school was heavily White or Asian (and of the ones I met, most Asians here were very, very affluent, so probably a little more sympathetic to conservatism?  I don't know), and a huge percentage of the student body (specifically in the business school) came from the Chicago suburbs, often the collar counties, and were quite well off.

[RFayette]

The other day my econ professor made a joke about Paul Krugman, so I presume he's at least a tad right-of-center on economic policy.  Don't know about any of my other professors though.

[Asian Nazi]

I was a political science major.  I think it was a mistake.  It's probably by far the most establishment-oriented social science field, both in terms of the professors who teach it and the students in the classes (who are way more likely to be aspiring lawyers/politicians than activists).  Out here, establishment-friendly means Democrat.  In more conservative areas, political science can be pretty Republican.

Of the sub-fields of political science:

International Relations is the most conservative.  Lots of hawks and neo-cons on one end, and EU-loving free traders on the other. 

American Politics was probably the next most conservative, since this is the one that aspiring politician/lawyer types seem to like to take the most.

Comparative Politics is more diverse, though lots of IR people cross over into it.

Theory is definitely the most left-leaning, because it's the least career oriented and tends to attract people with heterodox/idiosyncratic views.



I also majored in East Asian Studies, but that was an interdisciplinary field so it's hard to judge.  The business majors in my Chinese classes were all really right-wing for obvious reasons, and well to the right of the average student on social issues too. 

[Asian Nazi]

Oh, and re: nurses.  My guess is that they lean Republican nationally mostly because the field tends to attract more traditional women with conservative views on gender roles, since it's a traditionally female profession. 

[RFayette]

I was a political science major.  I think it was a mistake.  It's probably by far the most establishment-oriented social science field, both in terms of the professors who teach it and the students in the classes (who are way more likely to be aspiring lawyers/politicians than activists).  Out here, establishment-friendly means Democrat.  In more conservative areas, political science can be pretty Republican.

This isn't too surprising; if the object of what you  are studying is a current political system, it would be pretty unlikely that many professors

My guess is that the social sciences would look something like this relatively speaking [I also put in some other majors and about where I thought they'd be in parentheses; I've heard that physicists and biologists tend to be pretty darn liberal, whereas chemists are slightly more conservative, possibly due to the larger industrial bent to parts of the discipline] :

<Left>
Gender/African American/Sexuality studies
Anthropology    Sociology

Psychology
(Biology, Physics)


(Chemistry)
Political Science    History

(Engineering)
Economics
(Business and finance + Nursing, Agriculture)
<Right>

Of course, even the average econ professor is more likely to be a Democrat than a Republican, but at the same time, the vast majority of econ departments have a healthy contingent (if a minority nonetheless) of right-of-center professors (and especially students) and some may even outright lean GOP in more conservative areas.

What do others here care to agree/disagree here?

[Njall]

Canadian perspective, but here are some anecdotals from my past two years:

Econ prof (more specifically competition policy/managerial economics/econometrics): Describes himself as moderately libertarian overall.  Generally a Keynesian economist; very free-trade, and hates unions.  Derides any politician espousing policies that aren't economically "smart."  Voted Liberal this election, and I believe that he said he's voted Liberal since 2008.  Before that, he voted PC/Conservative.

Federalism and Managing/Implementing Public Policy prof: Very staunch New Democrat.  Absolutely hates Conservatives in general, and isn't too fond of the Liberals or Greens.

A prof I had for Intro to Microeconomics and Intro to Macroeconomics: Seemed fairly centrist when I had him, but he ran as a Wildrose candidate in the 2015 provincial election, and was a nomination candidate for a federal Conservative nomination.  His resume has previous involvement with the provincial PC party, but that was Ted Morton's constituency association, so take from that what you will.

IR prof (and most of the other poli sci profs): not too partisan overall, but general anti-Conservative.

Comparative Politics prof: self-described "Orthodox Marxist"

Geology prof (specifically, Intro to the Petroleum Industry): quite militantly anti-all non-Conservative parties.  Also very militantly pro-oil industry, and doesn't believe that man is causing climate change.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The left lean of sociology really sucks, as I really enjoy my soc classes.

[RFayette]

The left lean of sociology really sucks, as I really enjoy my soc classes.

Does criminology count as part of sociology?  If so, you do have John Lott and Mike Adams then.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The left lean of sociology really sucks, as I really enjoy my soc classes.

Does criminology count as part of sociology?  If so, you do have John Lott and Mike Adams then.

I mean, my school doesn't have a "criminology" department--Criminal Justice Studies, rather--and I have yet to take "Criminology & Penology", so I'm not entirely familiar with the actual definition of criminology beyond, shall we say, studying of criminals including ability to profile them. Were you to classify it into older and larger social sciences, it would have to be a combination of both sociology and psychology. Hell, my Sociology of Deviant Behavior prof is an ex-prison psychologist and often takes us into tangents about his experience and/or psychological theory when Abnormal Psych is its own class.

EDIT: I had the chance to think this over whilst hungover in class and then while utilizing the Commerce & Finance building's restroom facilities, and to put it in its most plain form: the sociological side (at least for positivists--I don't consider constructivists to have that much of a practical addition to the study, though their conclusions are interesting) is going to ask and try to find out "what societal preconditions will cause crime, a rise in crime, etc. Constructivists are going to ask how it is we come to identify certain things as deviant, criminal, etc. Psychologists--I assume, I'm taking Abnormal Psych next term--would, on the other hand, focus on why the individual would do it. Consider abnormal psychology, prison psychologists, those guys on "Criminal Minds", and so on.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

I went to a small Christian university from a conservative denomination. I majored in chemistry there. Out of all the chemistry professors there was only one Republican. He also was the leader of the school's College Republicans.

[muon2]

All academics are liberal.

It's a fact.

Harrumph.

[Torie]

All academics are liberal.

It's a fact.

Harrumph.

Less so in the hard sciences, Muon2.   Oh, and of course in the economics departments, and business schools.

[RFayette]

All academics are liberal.

It's a fact.

Harrumph.

Less so in the hard sciences, Muon2.   Oh, and of course in the economics departments, and business schools.

I had always thought that hard sciences were more conservative fields in academia until I saw a link (oft-repeated in liberal sites) that scientists are pretty overwhelmingly liberal.  I am curious if muon2 could comment on the accuracy of this poll:  is it really the case that only ~6% of scientists are Republicans?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html

If that survey is accurate, that would mean that economics, engineering, and business professors are far more conservative than scientists, who pretty much seem akin to humanities professors in political preferences.

[/]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/29/96-percent-of-ivy-league-presidential-donations-were-for-obama/

fun little fact

[Rockefeller GOP]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/29/96-percent-of-ivy-league-presidential-donations-were-for-obama/

fun little fact

Okay?  Ivy League school faculty are probably more liberal than other universities, especially ones in other regions other than the East Coast.  If all you're trying to do here is "validate" your ideology as intellectually superior, you're not adding to this discussion.  The OP clearly wanted to know how the political views of academia change across fields.  What percent of all faculty are the finance professors??  Probably not enough to even change the average.

[RFayette]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/29/96-percent-of-ivy-league-presidential-donations-were-for-obama/

fun little fact

Okay?  Ivy League school faculty are probably more liberal than other universities, especially ones in other regions other than the East Coast.  If all you're trying to do here is "validate" your ideology as intellectually superior, you're not adding to this discussion.  The OP clearly wanted to know how the political views of academia change across fields.  What percent of all faculty are the finance professors??  Probably not enough to even change the average.

Indeed.  I think it's pretty clear from the data that medical school & business school professors of all kinds, econ professors, engineering professors, and nursing professors are more Republican than average for professors as a whole.

Social sciences (non-econ), environmental science, and pretty much all the humanities are more Democratic than average for professors as a whole.

The wildcards are the hard sciences and fields like computer science and mathematics as well.  I believe the last two still lean a bit more Republican relative to academia though I am not sure about the hard sciences, based on the link I gave before showing just how liberal scientists in general are, hence why I am curiously awaiting muon2's response regarding scientists' political leans.

[Stranger in a strange land]

In my experience, humanities professors are virtually 100% liberal or left-wing. Social science professors are also overwhelmingly liberal, but not to quite the same degree. A typical political science department will have 2-3 conservatives or libertarians for instance. Economics departments tend to be the most conservative, though they obviously emphasize free market economics rather than social or foreign policy issues. The hard sciences really vary, but still skew left. Engineering profs are typically a bit more Republican though, though most have at least some libertarian leanings.