Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#31

Post by newacct23 » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:34 AM UTC

pron wrote: post #11

newacct23 wrote: post #8

51% of college graduates voted for Romney in 2012 while only 48% for Obama Romney actually lost with highschool educated only and he lost significantly with postgraduate studies only getting 42% of the vote with Obama getting 55%. So really the trend is that academics are liberal, not the highly educated. (That 3% gap in college grads likely accounts for a larger percentage of the population than the massive 13% gap…

The article defines highly educated as people with advanced degrees. They are not academics. I doubt anyone would classify the general population of all college graduates (i.e. from all colleges) in the US as highly educated.

>The article defines highly educated as people with advanced degrees. They are not academics

Definition from article:

>But the most highly educated Americans — those who have attended graduate or professional school — are starting to come together as a political bloc.

Doctors make up 1/3 of a percent of the US population (they don't necessarily have Phds)

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-percent-of-the-us-population-do...

Doctors chose Romney over Obama 55% to 36%.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/01/survey-doctors-choose-romn...

1.68% of Americans have a Phd (actually significantly more than I expected and significantly more than I think deserve to be handed out). I really wonder how many of these people do practical work. I can't find statistics to prove my bias so we will have to leave it as is unless someone can find some.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#32

Post by tommeader » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:35 AM UTC

blowski wrote: post #18

And I guess the converse question which has vexed socialists for decades - why do so many of the poor vote for centre-right, business-friendly parties? For example, why did so many working class people vote for Thatcher in UK in the 1980s? Why are they not massively in favour of Jeremy Corbyn right now? I'm not saying it's irrational. But sometimes it's odd to hear people who need the government to subsidise their mi…

I read your comment and had a quick think, and it occurred to me that it's likely to do with nationalism. Most liberal political parties' views on immigration etc. tend to put off the voters you are talking about. Most of the right winged parties tend to emphasise (taking your example) British business and there's a lot of dey tuk urrr jerrbbs syndrome that comes from these types.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#33

Post by zxcvcxz » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:35 AM UTC

Just like to point out the members of the T9 lean libertarian.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150226234712/http://www.triple...

T9 (Triple 9) is a high IQ society similar to Mensa, but which only accepts members whose IQ is in the .999 percentile.

It's a non-scientific poll, but in my experience while lots of my college friends were liberal, lots of my professors and the smartest people I know lean libertarian.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#34

Post by arjun1296 » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:35 AM UTC

I believe myself to be a liberal. However, I still believe that the question asked "Why are the highly educated so liberal?" in itself is a loaded question.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#35

Post by edanm » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:35 AM UTC

petewailes wrote: post #3

Pithy answer: because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear. When you have a simple world view, nuance is always going to escape you. An educated person can understand that the world isn't simple, which will lead to a more liberal view, as liberal views tend to be based on the assumption that angry, narrow world view responses aren't a good thing. Some…

Is this actually true? Plenty of former Russians are very anti socialist, because of their experience with communism. They would say that their larger experience causes them to fear things that sound good in theory, but are terrible in practice. Either way, I doubt you could get away with saying they have a simple worldview without nuance.

I think your view really boils down to "i'm right they're wrong, so of course education and experience would cause anyone to be on my side!"

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#36

Post by evgen » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:36 AM UTC

gallonofmilk wrote: post #19

Fej wrote: post #4

The two parties have been getting more polarized, that much is clear. The problem with the GOP from an educated person's perspective is that many, if not most of its politicians get elected through anti-intellectual rhetoric. Trump is the most extreme example of this. He makes no actual arguments and just attacks his detractors. An educated group taught to embrace science will certainly take issue with leaders who ig…

> GOP is the party of creationists and climate deniers... how is this statement different than e.g. "the democratic party is the party of socialists and communists"? they're both bold assertions on a large group of people that are unlikely to be true for the majority... to be honest it just sounds smug

Perhaps it is because state and national GOP party platforms specifically call out support for creationism and the denial of man-made climate change while no Democratic platform statements call for the introduction of socialism or communism? There is a difference between being right and being smug.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#37

Post by psychometry » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:36 AM UTC

vegancap wrote: post #9

Probably because the education system, in most western countries is largely subsidised by government. So the professors, and the teachers who are largely on public payroll, are bound to be less critical of government, than, say someone in the private sector. Which in turn will permeate those who they teach. It's in their best interest to then spread ideals which uphold their government funding.

Well that's...a reach. There's more to the American liberal outlook than support for government programs. I'm guessing you didn't read the article; you might want to do that first and attempt a more substantial comment later.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#38

Post by TruthAndDare » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:37 AM UTC

petewailes wrote: post #3

Pithy answer: because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear. When you have a simple world view, nuance is always going to escape you. An educated person can understand that the world isn't simple, which will lead to a more liberal view, as liberal views tend to be based on the assumption that angry, narrow world view responses aren't a good thing. Some…

> Pithy answer: because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear.

I guess we are all are against some things. For my own part, I don't see that when there is something I feel is wrong, it is always, or even usually, because I am afraid of it. Furthermore, some things (strong AI; synthetic biology), I have become afraid of by understanding some of it.

> Someone who understands how vaccinations work, why we do them, why they're made the way they are can't be afraid of them, and thus won't be against them.

Oh, my. I am all for vaccinations, but the reason is simply that I find the people who claim that vaccinations do not cause autism (or whatever negative consequence) more credible than those who claim that they do. It's not even about my own education, it's about what sources of information I find trustworthy. I couldn't possibly say anything myself about how vaccinations and autism are or are not related.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#39

Post by petewailes » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:38 AM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #27

petewailes wrote: post #3

Pithy answer: because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear. When you have a simple world view, nuance is always going to escape you. An educated person can understand that the world isn't simple, which will lead to a more liberal view, as liberal views tend to be based on the assumption that angry, narrow world view responses aren't a good thing. Some…

If I listen closely, I'm pretty sure that I can hear you patting yourself on the back through my computer. Your comment boils down to saying, "Because education opens your mind," which is completely asinine. Political science and philosophy are not young fields. Where would Aristotle, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Locke, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin or Madison fall today? Are you telling me that you find it reasonable to thi…

I didn't say left or right, or Democrat/Republican once. I specifically chose examples that would reflect that both sides of the political spectrum get wrong.

The left doesn't have exclusive ownership of liberalism, nor does the right always find itself to be illiberal. Fear and ignorance however can abound on both sides, leading to illiberal opinions.

I'm sure some of those mentioned would be left and right, as well as anyone else you might want to bring up. There's parts of Aristotle's Politics and Ethics that would most certainly place him on the right of the political spectrum. But that's got nothing to do with liberal views.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#40

Post by ZeroGravitas » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 10:39 AM UTC

petewailes wrote: post #3

Pithy answer: because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear. When you have a simple world view, nuance is always going to escape you. An educated person can understand that the world isn't simple, which will lead to a more liberal view, as liberal views tend to be based on the assumption that angry, narrow world view responses aren't a good thing. Some…

There's some research that suggest climate change and evolution denial go up (by certain measures) as the respondants understanding of the issues goes up.

The answer is apparently that the smarter you are, the more likely you are to have absorbed this information, but also, the more likely you are to realise that your social group expects you to answer in a certain way.

For people outside the social groups that have rejected evolution/climate change, more knowledge helps rather than hurts. So it's not just about ignorance.