Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T07:29:19.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

17 - Ideological Diversity

from Part V - Diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Colin Elman
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
John Gerring
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
James Mahoney
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

Studies have shown that US college and university professors are disproportionately left-leaning and Democratic and these tendencies are especially pronounced in the social sciences. Critics of this ideological homogeneity have leveled a wide range of charges in light of these findings: that these political orientations seep into research and teaching, that it affects accumulated knowledge, policymaking, student attitudes, American political culture, and that it promotes motivated reasoning, bias, and groupthink. This chapter reviews the most credible of the arguments for greater ideological diversity and attempts to move beyond applied concerns by asking whether and how discussion of political diversity and bias in academia might be reconceptualized to form the basis for meaningful empirical studies.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Production of Knowledge
Enhancing Progress in Social Science
, pp. 432 - 456
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×