Full Description
Professors and Their Politics tackles the assumption that universities are ivory towers of radicalism with the potential to corrupt conservative youth. Neil Gross and Solon Simmons gather the work of leading sociologists, historians, and other researchers interested in the relationship between politics and higher education to present evidence to the contrary. In eleven meaty chapters, contributors describe the political makeup of American academia today, consider the causes of its liberal tilt, discuss the college experience for politically conservative students, and delve into historical debates about professorial politics. Offering readable, rigorous analyses rather than polemics, Professors and Their Politics yields important new insights into the nature of higher education institutions while challenging dogmas of both the left and the right.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: The Lay of the Land
Chapter 1. The Social and Political Views of American College and University Professors
Part II: Explaining Professional Liberalism
Chapter 2. Political Liberalism and Graduate School Attendance: A Longitudinal Analysis
Chapter 3. Nations, Classes, and the Politics of Professors: A Comparative Perspective
Chapter 4. Political Bias in the Graduate School Admissions Process: A Field Experiment
Part III: The Student Experience
Chapter 5. The Effect of College on Social and Political Attitudes and Civic Participation
Chapter 6. "Civil" or "Provocative"?: Varieties of Conservative Student Style and Discourse in American Universities
Part IV: Formative Periods
Chapter 7. Naturalizing Liberalism in the 1950s
Chapter 8. Challenging Neutrality: Sixties Activism and Debates over Political Advocacy in the American University
Part V: Institutional Change and its Limit
Chapter 9. Activism and the Academy: Lessons from the Rise of Ethnic Studies
Chapter 10. Rationalizing Realpolitik: U.S. International Relations as a Liberal Field
Chapter 11. The Merits of Marginality: Think Tanks, Conservative Intellectuals, and the Liberal Academy
Conclusion
Appendix. Sample Student Emails
References
Contributors
Index
