Quatro hipóteses para a escassez conservadora no meio acadêmico norte-americano
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0103-4014.2024.38110.020Keywords:
Higher education, Political culture, Conservatism, Discrimination, Self-selectionAbstract
This article explores some hypotheses for the scarcity of conservatives among North American academia. Although it does not intend to offer an exhaustive explanation for the distribution of political-ideological profiles in this environment, the study will evaluate the relative strength of four hypotheses: 1) the meritocratic hypothesis (conservatives have less aptitude for academic work); 2) the discrimination hypothesis (conservatives are victims of discriminatory practices within the academic milieu); 3) the conversion hypothesis (the academic milieu tends to bring its members towards the left of the political spectrum); and 4) the self selection hypothesis (conservatives are voluntarily opting out of academic careers). The exploration of these hypotheses reveals a multi-causal picture that, nonetheless, does not present substantive evidence to support the meritocratic hypothesis or the conversion hypothesis. It is concluded that the conservative scarcity is mainly due to a interconnection of self-reinforcing factors revealed by the discrimination hypothesis and the self-selection hypothesis.
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