Why are academic/literary folks supposedly liberal or left leaning?

Question

I have heard this used as a negative stereotype from conservatives; the stereotype certainly applies to me and many of the academic/literary types that I know. Many of these types have made or will be making a great deal of money, so it seems to defy the rich=conservative, poor=liberal stereotype.

Answer 1

Liberals will tell you that the academic world is simply more educated and open-minded while Conservatives will say academics are out-of-touch and lost in a world of pure theory. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

Academics lives are defined by reason and rationality. This tends to make a person more open-minded and intellectual.

What's more, and I think often overlooked, is that academics have a common means of expression across cultural divides..a global language, if you like. Whether your field is physics or literature, you are dealing with universals (Love and lightning are the same in the U.S. and Iran).

On the flip-side, this immersion in rationality could also lead to a practical inability to deal with irrationality, of which the real world has an endless supply. This, I believe, is the grain of truth behind conservatives' "real world" argument

Answer 2

Academic/literary usually are thinkers that come with new ideas. New ideas are not conservative, they want well to conserve what they have learned even if it is wrong. Now most conservatives are wealthy which is totally different than being rich or have pretty good money.

Answer 3

"academic/literary" types tend to congregate and feed off each other's common views. Typically they can't support an argument against their beliefs w/o resorting to "hating" and thus stifle contradictory opinions within their own ranks and especially from their students.

Any number of "eggheads" have conservative views but are afraid of expressing them for fear of being "hated" or being called "evil" or a "redneck" by out of touch ivory tower types who revere Che Guevera more than Thomas Jefferson.

And you are also very wrong about the economic breakdown of "academic/literary" types- the vast majority make less over a career than any plumber, garbageman or McDonald franchise owner.

Answer 4

Chairman Mao rounded up and KILLED everyone on campuses "who even wore glasses" and killed the smartest students and all professors, simply because he was afraid his communist revolution would be fought the worst from them. Its an historical fact, there is no telling the damage he did to his country, possible setting it back decades doing this in research, but he felt safer.

They "do this" because if someone is "educated" they are supposed to have a more open mind to new ideas and subjects. However, educated people can be just as blind about "facts" as anyone else. So, while it may be true for most, it is not true for all.

Answer 5

Because school is intended to broaden the mind and expose people to different ways of thinking.

And on the average, liberals tend to be more open to exploring diversity and different opinions than conservatives.

It's a generalization, like almost any other statement about either group as a whole.

Answer 6

Part of it is because education expands ones horizons.
An educated person is able to see little details better than an uneducated one like:
-Freedom is more important than money.
-Citizens are more crucial for a nation's well being than Tax Payers.
-Our environment is the only one we have and we shouldn't be killing it for a quick buck.
-Letting people do whatever they want in the privacy of their own home is a higher moral than conservative morals.
-War should always be a last resort, not the first.

I could go on and on, but in the end education makes a person more open minded, and you can call conservatives whatever you want but open minded is definitely not one of them.

Answer 7

Romney is often defined because the guy to target this. i don't have self assurance it - he's too of route a phony, having switched from being extremely liberal even as operating in Massachusetts to being a not person-friendly conservative for the 2008 Republican primaries. And even as he boasts about his organization journey, a lot of it truly is in shipping American jobs remote places. The DC elite love him, yet he gained't play elsewhere. in my view i imagine that if the Republicans opt to truly win in 2012 they ought to bypass with Jindal. Colin Powell also might want to win, yet he doesn't like it and, at this factor, has no probability to be nominated inspite of if he did. yet specially, they ought to get rid of their personal primaries. Whoever is going by skill of them will be compelled to pander to the bottom with such severe positions that they are going to be unelectable.

Answer 8

the more educated a person is, the more liberal they tend to be.

This has held true for quite some time:
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
John Stuart Mill

Answer 9

Academic/Literary/artistic, yes I added one. Tend to more giving as they teach and give their knowledge to others money is not a motivating factor for them. Doing good is. They are not as greedy.