Why are most professors liberal in their political orientation? Answering that question scientifically requires an examination of the history of our university system over the last two centuries, and one could draw a number of conclusions. But I don’t think typecasting is an adequate explanation. I am not sure it is even the right question. A better question is why did the conservative movement adopt an anti-intellectual stance in the first place? It’s hard to be a conservative professor when your profession is reviled by your own party. It isn’t just the denial of scientific theories like evolution, plate tectonics, and global climate change either. If anything, it is liberal arts professors who are the least conservative. Something about reading British Literature just isn’t manly, or something. We can picture Laura Bush curled up with The Brothers Karamazov. Her husband? Not so much.
Those Liberal Academics
