Something is amiss in the West. A single viewpoint is emanating from much of the media and the upper middle classes. In itself this is not surprising because those who have power have a convergence of interest but what is new is that the upper middle classes are largely from a new sector of society. The increased pay of senior public sector workers and corporate managers means that they are the new upper middle class, ousting those who "live on dividends", lawyers, doctors, the landed rich and entrepreneurs.
As employees in the public sector or working for large corporations this new governing class is communitarian and their communitarianism is strengthened by their education.
The views of the governing class are acquired at school and university. Unfortunately university lecturers in the UK have a political profile that is entirely different from that of the population in general in Lackademia: why do academics lean left? it reports that 88% of academics in general have left/liberal views and this rises to 95% in the humanities and arts.
The proportion of left wing academics has been increasing over time:
This shows that the left wing bias in universities is unlikely to have a flippant answer such as "clever people support the left". People in 1980 were not any less clever than people today. This is reinforced by the finding that cognitive elites have a similar political profile to the general population:
Other studies from the USA have found a systematic bias against publication of papers by conservatives in the social sciences and humanities and those without the correct views are not employed or given grants.
When students leave university they have been exposed to a vocabulary and outlook that is severely biased compared with ordinary people. This education creates a consensus reality where political opponents are stupid and led astray by populism and radicalisation. But, of course, it is the poor students who have been radicalised by an education system that has developed itself as a tool for this radicalisation. People forget that it was teachers and the middle class who most supported the Nazis.
This was in the days before Hitler gained power and in a time when he presented his party as socialist. Few in the Germany of those days, especially among the middle classes, believed that Stalinists were more deserving of support by the Left than the National Socialists. It is chilling to realize that those who supported the rights of poor Jewish refugees in the early 1920s had, within ten years, turned to Nazism.
The real problem here is that centre and more libertarian parties are not correcting the drift to the Left in universities. We can see from recent events that the BBC and other broadcasters now have almost entirely communitarian editors and presenters (See John Humphrys and BBC Bias). This gives the Corporate Elite a huge platform for further propaganda outside of education. If we do not stand up to the communitarians liberty will be eroded entirely.
Evidence from the USA
A recent study of sociologists and social psychologists in the USA by Inbar and Lammers (2012) found that only 3.9% ranked themselves as being to the right of "moderate" in their politics compared with over 42% of the US population.
When asked about this political polarisation most psychologists and sociologists tended to reply that their field of study makes them left wing or that only clever people study their subject. The reality was far more serious. It turns out that left wing academics are actively discriminating against conservatives.
When asked if there was discrimination against conservatives by their colleagues:
44% responded that there was discrimination against hiring conservatives
and
36.9% said that grants would be withheld from conservatives
Worse still,
34% said that there was discrimination when reviewing papers by conservatives.
Only 4% of these sociologists are conservative so there can be no significant discrimination against the Left.
Inbar, Y. and Lammers,J. (2012). Political Diversity in Social and Personality Psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 496-503.
As employees in the public sector or working for large corporations this new governing class is communitarian and their communitarianism is strengthened by their education.
The views of the governing class are acquired at school and university. Unfortunately university lecturers in the UK have a political profile that is entirely different from that of the population in general in Lackademia: why do academics lean left? it reports that 88% of academics in general have left/liberal views and this rises to 95% in the humanities and arts.
The proportion of left wing academics has been increasing over time:
Other studies from the USA have found a systematic bias against publication of papers by conservatives in the social sciences and humanities and those without the correct views are not employed or given grants.
When students leave university they have been exposed to a vocabulary and outlook that is severely biased compared with ordinary people. This education creates a consensus reality where political opponents are stupid and led astray by populism and radicalisation. But, of course, it is the poor students who have been radicalised by an education system that has developed itself as a tool for this radicalisation. People forget that it was teachers and the middle class who most supported the Nazis.
The real problem here is that centre and more libertarian parties are not correcting the drift to the Left in universities. We can see from recent events that the BBC and other broadcasters now have almost entirely communitarian editors and presenters (See John Humphrys and BBC Bias). This gives the Corporate Elite a huge platform for further propaganda outside of education. If we do not stand up to the communitarians liberty will be eroded entirely.
Evidence from the USA
A recent study of sociologists and social psychologists in the USA by Inbar and Lammers (2012) found that only 3.9% ranked themselves as being to the right of "moderate" in their politics compared with over 42% of the US population.
When asked about this political polarisation most psychologists and sociologists tended to reply that their field of study makes them left wing or that only clever people study their subject. The reality was far more serious. It turns out that left wing academics are actively discriminating against conservatives.
When asked if there was discrimination against conservatives by their colleagues:
44% responded that there was discrimination against hiring conservatives
and
36.9% said that grants would be withheld from conservatives
Worse still,
34% said that there was discrimination when reviewing papers by conservatives.
Only 4% of these sociologists are conservative so there can be no significant discrimination against the Left.
Inbar, Y. and Lammers,J. (2012). Political Diversity in Social and Personality Psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 496-503.
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| 37% even admitted that they would personally discriminate! |
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