WHY ARE PROFESSORS LIBERAL AND WHY DO CONSERVATIVES CARE?

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WHY ARE PROFESSORS LIBERAL AND WHY DO CONSERVATIVES CARE?

Name: WHY ARE PROFESSORS LIBERAL AND WHY DO CONSERVATIVES CARE?
Author: Neil Gross
ISBN: 978-0674059092

by Neil Gross ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2013

A dense sociological report on the facts and falsehoods of the political leanings of professors.

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Gross (Sociology/Univ. of British Columbia; Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, 2008, etc.) examines the facts behind the conservative movement’s oft-heard criticism of higher education: that American universities are, as presidential candidate Rick Santorum famously said, little more than “indoctrination mills” for the political left.

Relying on years of research, the author confirms that conservatives are correct in their belief that many professors align themselves on the liberal spectrum, though he notes also that academia has far fewer radical professors in its midst than generally thought. While a mere 8 percent of professors self-identify as “radical,” a recent study revealed that 62 percent of students believed the term accurately described their professors—proof of the conservative movement’s ability to perpetuate the myth of the radical professor. Gross readily acknowledges that some conservative scholars may feel outnumbered in a university’s social science department but that the professor’s marginalized status is hardly any different than “progressives at some elite law firms.” More interesting than academia’s demographics, however, are the causes of these demographics. In short: What is at the root of liberalism in academia? Do liberal academics share a different value system than their conservative counterparts? Does self-selection play a role? To what extent does one’s politics affect one’s career path? And a related question: How can professors protect their academic freedoms in an environment so closely tied to the politicians who hold the purse strings? Gross examines all of these questions and more, often overwhelming readers with facts and figures that lead to somewhat nebulous conclusions. Its academic tone—while appropriate given the subject matter—reminds readers that an academic in academia produced it. While Gross’ neutrality is admirable, his work’s inability to open itself up to a wider audience risks confining a valuable debate to the primary players within it.

A dense sociological report on the facts and falsehoods of the political leanings of professors.

Pub Date: April 9, 2013

ISBN: 978-0674059092

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Harvard Univ.

Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013

Categories:

EDUCATION | CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | POLITICS | GENERAL CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES

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JAPAN: WHO GOVERNS?

THE RISE OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE

by Chalmers Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1995

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A collection of perceptive essays from a top Asian scholar who sheds considerable light on how Japan managed to become a world- class economic power following its defeat in WW II. Among other arresting judgments, Johnson (Pacific International Relations/Univ. of California, San Diego; MITI and the Japanese Miracle, 1981) contends that samurai capitalism is quite unlike its Darwinian equivalents in Europe and North America on several important counts. To begin with, he states, the island nation engages in an effective form of producer economics that views markets as means, not ends. In addition, respected government ministries provide domestic industry with administrative guidance that permits corporate enterprises to pursue essentially mercantile goals without paying much attention to the interests of either employees or stockholders. The author dates the ascendancy of this prestigious, professional bureaucracy (which created what he calls a developmental state) to the destruction of Japan's military during the US occupation. Mounting trade deficits and the end of the Cold War have induced Washington to reappraise America's relations with Dai Nihon and the Far Eastern countries that have followed its economic lead. For the most part, Johnson concludes, neither US policy makers nor the mass media have a realistic understanding of how Japan's commercial practices (which have precious little concern for the welfare of home-front consumers) differ from those in the West. Expanding on this theme, he examines language barriers, Tokyo's bonds with nations comprising what it once referred to as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and the reform-resistant system that passes for democratic politics in Japan. Addressed as well is the outlook for a renewal of the ties that once bound the US to an ally that no longer appears to value its gaijin security blanket. Authoritative perspectives on a consequential country that remains indominatably foreign for most of the West. (Graphs and tabular material)

Pub Date: March 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-393-03739-8

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995

Categories:

- BOOK REVIEW
NEMESIS
by Chalmers Johnson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE
by Chalmers Johnson

- BOOK REVIEW
BLOWBACK
by Chalmers Johnson

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AGAINST THE GRAIN

THE NEW CRITERION ON ART AND INTELLECT AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

edited by Hilton Kramer & Roger Kimball ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 1995

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This collection of essays and reviews from the New Criterion's last six years represents both the best and the worst that ideologically charged criticism has to offer. For 12 years now, the New Criterion has manned the neoconservative barricades in America's culture wars. The clumsily written introduction by the editors refers rather cryptically to the absence of Bruce Bawer, whose scintillating literary essays were once the high point of almost every issue. He and Jed Perl (whose dissenting pieces on Anselm Kiefer and Mike Kelly are included here) were the two true discoveries of the magazine. Bawer's withdrawal corresponds to cultural forces now splitting conservative thought between those willing and those not willing to appease the radical right. Kramer and Kimball, two of the more ham- fisted authors here, echo the bellicose rhetoric that was once the province of the intellectual left, spewing screeds as ineffectual as the drivel of the most rabble-rousing neo-Stalinoids. To their credit, these embittered critics on the right have functioned as public intellectuals, writing for common readers and not just one another. At their best, they have debunked some of the worst trends within the university today, from the inanities of Afrocentrism (Terry Teachout on Houston Baker) to the cult of those French intellectual high priests, Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard (Kimball and Richard Vine, respectively). That political correctness pervades the cultural elite is a given among these writers, and many essays demonstrate its corrosive effect on contemporary art (essays by New Criterion stalwarts Perl, Karen Wilkin, and Eric Gibson), music (work by the late publisher Samuel Lipman), and theater (Donald Lyons on Angels in America). Not all the career assessments are negative: Included are definitive essays on Frederick Douglass, T.E. Lawrence, and Max Beerbohm—all of which cut through the obfuscations of academic critics. The worst note is struck by the editors, who would do well to subject their work to someone else's editorial scrutiny. Otherwise, an invaluable introduction to this most necessary of journals.