tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post7656341807686087393..comments2024-03-28T19:14:33.619-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: Disability, Sexuality, Political Leaning, Socio-Economic Background, and Other Demographic Data on Recent Philosophy PhD RecipientsEric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-70823436611422050012021-11-14T15:30:31.316-08:002021-11-14T15:30:31.316-08:00Thanks for that comment, Jake. That makes a lot o...Thanks for that comment, Jake. That makes a lot of sense to me!Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274774112862434865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-9559871232042441242021-11-14T15:09:37.811-08:002021-11-14T15:09:37.811-08:00I think it’s very likely that people in the Gallup...I think it’s very likely that people in the Gallup poll are under-self-reporting as LGBTQ. Most LGBTQ people go through a period in which they are strongly motivated to believe that they are cisgender and straight. Even if my peers are extremely welcoming of LGBTQ people, I might remain in denial for years before adopting an identity that makes better sense of my experiences (e.g., I persuade myself that I don't really have a crush on someone when I obviously do). I imagine that it’s much more tempting to self-deceive if your social group is mostly conservative. The inverse seems to be comparatively rare—-I think that very few straight and cis people are strongly motivated to believe that they are queer. I am reluctant to say that someone is “actually gay” etc. without their realizing it, but I think that the number of people who would be best served by an LGBTQ label is probably significantly above 5.6%. <br /><br />I’m bringing this up because I think it changes the apparent significance of this data. I would expect LGBTQ people to be “overrepresented” in any population where those identities are destigmatized enough for people to comfortably adopt them. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to be highly educated. If a person would be well served by identifying as gay or trans, then I think they are more likely to realize that in a philosophy PhD program than in most other jobs. (I don’t mean that this explains the entire disparity. I’m sure that there are other factors, such as that people are more likely to prefer liberal environments. Another possibility is that introspective people are more likely to become philosophers and more likely to realize that they are LGBTQ. In any case, I think that our baseline expectation should be above 5.6%.)<br /><br />Likewise, we should expect there to be some gap between professors and first-year majors, since many of those freshmen will later identify as LGBTQ. It’s very common for students to realize that they are queer during college and to retain those identities after they graduate. In order to know whether this gap says anything about the discipline, we would have to compare philosophy PhD recipients to other people of the same age who started their philosophy majors at the same time. Jake Beardsleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11717475063636232571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-15294420935893701662021-10-29T13:53:41.482-07:002021-10-29T13:53:41.482-07:00thx Ericthx EricKelly James Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286463868418462069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-90510685843335956002021-10-29T13:53:19.683-07:002021-10-29T13:53:19.683-07:00thx Eric
thx Eric<br />Kelly James Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286463868418462069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-41074736443630869472021-10-25T08:42:02.410-07:002021-10-25T08:42:02.410-07:00Is there a section for PHD recipients toward globa...Is there a section for PHD recipients toward global truth and wisdom methodology...<br />..like understanding living via senses, via observation, via both, via many more...<br /><br />The liberal concern on our populated planet has been watching for 10,000 years...<br />...have we been looking for an end to chaos...<br /><br />Have we been looking for methods towards global purpose...<br />...Its a privilege to read about your work...thanksArnoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02580641063222662041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-17767144921496826622021-10-24T18:37:50.982-07:002021-10-24T18:37:50.982-07:00My experience with tolerance and understanding of ...My experience with tolerance and understanding of mental health in academia would make anyone's hair stand on end. If you want deets. Contact htiedke@gmail.com.Dr Savagehttps://heidisavage.myportfolio.com/aboutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-57490919853512012662021-10-22T09:40:14.539-07:002021-10-22T09:40:14.539-07:00Thanks for the comments, folks!
Kelly/Anon Oct 21...Thanks for the comments, folks!<br /><br />Kelly/Anon Oct 21 07:09: I didn't intend that remark as suggesting a monocausal explanation. Very likely those other factors are as important or more important, and of course something needs to get the process started in the first place. Once the process is in place, the vicious circle could well further aggravate it. Anon Oct 21, I am also concerned about political diversity in the profession, as I hope would have been clear by my emphasis on the lowness of 1% -- the only italicized sentence in the post -- and my link over to Peters.<br /><br />Kenny: Right, good point!<br /><br />Anon Oct 21 01:45: I agree that the "liberal"/"conservative" labels as they are now typically used to some extent are misnomers, e.g., classical liberals are in some sense conservative and the radical right is in some senses not very conservative at all.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274774112862434865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-92076446050473114492021-10-21T19:09:06.455-07:002021-10-21T19:09:06.455-07:00Black Philosophy PhDs are 2% of respondents vs. 13...Black Philosophy PhDs are 2% of respondents vs. 13% of the general population. That's a factor of 6.5x. Above, they are said to be "enormously underrepresented."<br /><br />Conservatives are 5% of respondents, vs. 30-40% of the population. That's a factor of 6-8x. The headline? "Philosophers lean left." LEAN. ��<br /><br />Also, I read above that maybe it's kinda their own fault! "I worry that there's a vicious circle here: Academia, especially the humanities and social sciences, shifts left -- right-leaning politicians criticize and defund academic work, especially in the humanities and social sciences -- people in the humanities and social sciences understandably react by associating even more with the left -- and so forth."<br /><br />That's "victim blaming," as they say. ("See what you made me do??") <br /><br />Surely a better explanation, as Kelly James Clark wrote above, is peer pressure, prestige bias, hiring/admissions discrimination, a hostile working and learning environment, etc. etc. etc. <br /><br />Conservatives self-select out, because they perceive that they're not welcome in this profession, despite its aspirations to "diversity and inclusion."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-4745504643896996012021-10-21T13:45:02.025-07:002021-10-21T13:45:02.025-07:00Thanks for all your work!
Regarding future surve...Thanks for all your work! <br /><br />Regarding future surveys, it seems like the most relevant political distinction in academia today is not left/right, or liberal/conservative, but between support versus opposition to “social justice”/“woke-ness” (I don’t know what the non-loaded terms would be).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-44857630828373232632021-10-21T12:57:51.638-07:002021-10-21T12:57:51.638-07:00Seeing the difference in responses about sexual or...Seeing the difference in responses about sexual orientation among intended majors when going to college, vs people who completed PhDs, made me think first about how many people end up declaring philosophy after they are already in college. But then I remembered that I would have shown up in these data in two ways - I declared philosophy as a major well after I came to college, but I also didn't come out until after I came to college! I hear that these days, a large fraction of people who eventually come out do so before the end of high school, but I would not be surprised if there's still a large fraction who do so later.Kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09588770173317316837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-83241410414984380702021-10-21T12:14:07.540-07:002021-10-21T12:14:07.540-07:00"I worry that there's a vicious circle he..."I worry that there's a vicious circle here: Academia, especially the humanities and social sciences, shifts left -- right-leaning politicians criticize and defund academic work, especially in the humanities and social sciences -- people in the humanities and social sciences understandably react by associating even more with the left -- and so forth."<br /><br />Seems like post-hoc rationalization to me.<br /><br />Makes it sound like people freely choose.<br /><br />Not a conservative myself but what about the more obvious explanations: peer pressure, prestige bias, hiring bias? Conservatives self-select out. Kelly James Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286463868418462069noreply@blogger.com