Quatro hipóteses para a escassez conservadora no meio acadêmico norte-americano

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:
Higher education; Political culture; Conservatism; Discrimination; Self-selection