17 - Ideological Diversity

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.