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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?

#41

Post by jeremyjh »

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…

In the US the conservatives get those votes by pretending to give a shit about "values". Such as (subtly) not liking brown people, liking Jesus, etc. It is astonishing the votes you can get for free just making some meaningless statements that a lot of people agree with.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#42

Post by sandworm101 »

tempestn wrote: post #24
sandworm101 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The lawyers? I know them. Most have no understanding of the metric system. Their science education stopped in grade school.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#43

Post by psychometry »

zxcvcxz wrote: post #33

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.

IQ societies aren't representative of the IQ range they require. I have a feeling people who feel the need to join one of those groups are more socially disaffected and have lower empathy than the their non-member IQ peers, which certainly correlates with a libertarian outlook.

And I haven't found your comment about libertarianism being rampant among professors to be true at all. Where did you go to school? That would be very much outside the norm.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#44

Post by unlinker »

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 guess they found out liberal economical policies lead to unemployment, and the poor loathe unemployment.

By the way Corbyn is a very bad example. He's a walking train wreck.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#45

Post by bobwaycott »

gaius wrote: post #28
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…

Oh, I think they get it just fine. They simply choose not to give into it.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#46

Post by mapleoin »

edanm wrote: post #35
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…

How does one get to be a former Russian?

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#47

Post by blowski »

tommeader wrote: post #32
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.

Why do they believe it? Obviously, in any one election you can say it's the headlines of the day combined with the personalities of the leaders.

So are working class people repeatedly irrational in voting for right-wing parties? Interestingly, UKIP are combining left-wing economics with right-wing social policies, and have made a lot of ground with the working class. Arguably, this is Trump's constituency in the US as well.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#48

Post by nickysielicki »

tempestn wrote: post #22
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."

I didn't edit the snippet at all. But let's look at the whole paragraph:

    What explains the consolidation of the highly educated into a liberal bloc? The
    growing number of women with advanced degrees is part of it, as well-educated
    women tend to be especially left-leaning. Equally important is the Republican
    Party’s move to the right since the 1980s — at odds with the social liberalism
    that has long characterized the well educated — alongside the perception that
    conservatives are anti-intellectual, hostile to science and at war with the
    university.
He posed the question "What explains the consolidation of the highly educated into a liberal bloc?"

Then answered it by saying that it could be because of more highly-educated women, because they tend to be particularly left-leaning.

What does that "explain"? The core question is why education tends towards left political views. A related question is why this is seen moreso in women. But suggesting that this tendency is explained, even partially, by the demographics on which the tenancy is seen is tautological... Unless there's some obvious reason I'm missing that women should be more susceptible to this bias?

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#49

Post by bobwaycott »

edanm wrote: post #35
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…

How can one be a "former Russian"?

Also, socialism != communism.

Also, Stalinism != communism.

Re: Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

#50

Post by hellofunk »

newacct23 wrote: post #31
pron wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 are also among the highest-paid members of American society and, along with wealthy financial professionals, you will typically find them siding more with the Republican Party often out of concern for their tax bracket.
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