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Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

nytimes.com

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Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#21

Post by gd1 »

raverbashing wrote: post #10
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…

However it seems the majority of anti-vaxxers are liberals

And anti-GMO. Anti-nuclear. Organic food enthusiasts. Anti modern farming. Naturopathy and homeopathy believers. The type of people who think that global warming causes more hurricanes for example.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#22

Post by tempestn »

nickysielicki wrote: post #7

This question doesn't get enough attention. I thought this article was pretty shoddy, though. > The growing number of women with advanced degrees is part of it, as well-educated women tend to be especially left-leaning. "Why are the highly educated so liberal?"... "Because highly educated women are liberal, and there are more highly-educated women." Well that explains everything. /s

Certainly if you only read one third of one paragraph of the article it would seem shoddy. You even paraphrased that snippet to delete the part that clearly states it's only a partial explanation: "The growing number of women with advanced degrees is part of it, as well-educated women tend to be especially left-leaning."

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#23

Post by petewailes »

random_upvoter wrote: post #16
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…

Perhaps the real answer is closer to "it's easy to be tolerant and broad-minded if you don't feel threatened". You're answer boils down to "because liberals are right and the others are wrong". But there isn't really such a thing as a wrong political opinion. People's political choices are based on their experience of the world. The whole premise of democracy is that if you take the mean of everybody's personal exper…

Pretty much. And you're generally not threatened of things you understand. Most things in the world aren't actually scary.

That's not to say there's nothing to be scared of out there - obviously there is. But there's a difference between knowing something is worth worrying about, and being badly informed or not informed at all, and thus being scared of it.

* Thing not to be scared of: vaccinations for your kids

* Thing to be scared of: long term effects of climate change

I'd take higher levels of education to mean that you're more exposed to being wrong about things, thus more accepting of the idea that you might be wrong, and more likely to change your view on finding out you are.

The more educational levels you pass through, the more you have it beaten in to you that you don't know as much as you think you do, and you're wrong to greater or lesser degrees a lot of time, about a lot of things.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#24

Post by tempestn »

sandworm101 wrote: post #20
tempestn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that most highly educated are liberal doesn't imply that most liberals are highly educated. I would guess (and hope) that most anti-vaxers are not highly educated, liberal or not.

Perhaps not highly educated in the sciences. Many US schools allow students to graduate without any real exposure to science.

We're talking about post-graduate degrees though. I would hope that most people with advanced degrees would have the critical thinking skills to understand the net benefits of vaccination, even without formal training in science.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#25

Post by sandworm101 »

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

Except that you do not see democrats stumping about the benefits of communism. You do see GOP candidates openly denying climate change and denouncing Darwinism as a left-wing plot. One has decided to become more extreme than the other.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#26

Post by Kaizyn »

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…

May I refer you to an oldie but goodie: 'The Disadvantages of an Elite Education' by William Deresiewicz: https://theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantages-of-an-elite...

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#27

Post by nickysielicki »

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 think that none of them would find themselves on the right, because they're uneducated, have a simple world view, and can't appreciate nuance?

I like this website more when I don't click the political articles.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#28

Post by gaius »

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…

because you aren't going to be afraid of something when you understand that it's not something you need to fear

Such as a highly educated media worker, has no fear of the factory closing because the company has found somewhere with lower taxes and relaxed pollution laws?

This is the appeal of Trump: he is the only candidate who doesn't want to send his demographics jobs offshore. It absolutely makes perfect sense for a significant number of voters to prefer him. I am really astonished at how many "liberals" despite their "high intellect" don't seem to get that there is a whole world outside their little bubble.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#30

Post by flashman »

random_upvoter wrote: post #16
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…

Perhaps the real answer is closer to "it's easy to be tolerant and broad-minded if you don't feel threatened". You're answer boils down to "because liberals are right and the others are wrong". But there isn't really such a thing as a wrong political opinion. People's political choices are based on their experience of the world. The whole premise of democracy is that if you take the mean of everybody's personal exper…

> You're answer boils down to "because liberals are right and the others are wrong"

I disagree. I read the OP's answer as, "The more education you have, the more you're prepared to accept the possibility that you're wrong." This leads to a greater acceptance of viewpoints (or at least the right to hold them) which you don't necessarily agree with, which is basically liberalism in a nutshell.

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