At the University of Cambridge, more than 80 % of more than 1,500 employees voted in favor of a motion to replace a university policy that requires 'respect' for beliefs.
This puts us on the track that academics in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in the United States, Canada and Great Britain also have an orientation towards freedom of expression stronger than many conservatives or moderate observers assume.
Under some assumptions
Most academics in the United States, Britain and Canada do not support firing academics who are politically incorrect, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI).
The database of cancellations from the National Association of Academics records 65 campaigns against academics in 2020, a sharp increase from the 12-13 reported during 2018 and 2019. How much support is there for such actions among academics?
To find out, academics and doctoral students were asked on four hypothetical scenarios. These included one academic whose work found that 'greater ethnic diversity leads to greater social tension and worse social outcomes', a second where the researcher claimed that 'the British empire did more good than harm', a third in which ' children do better when they have two biological parents than single or adoptive parents', and a quarter where 'a higher proportion of women and ethnic minorities in organizations correlates with lower performance'.
Finally, subjects were asked whether a staff member who favored less immigration should be encouraged to find another job.
The results of 706 American SSH scholars are shown in the first table. This data shows that in most cases, only 7-8 percent of academics supported cancellation. Only in the case of the performance question was there a higher proportion, but even here it only reached 18 percent. British and Canadian findings were almost identical.
More broadly, when asked whether they prioritize social justice or academic freedom, 56 percent of American SSH scholars answered academic freedom and only 28 percent said social justice, with the rest unsure. The Canadian results were similar. However, among doctoral students surveyed in a primarily American sample, 40 percent supported social justice versus 34 percent in favor of academic freedom.
Therefore, while most academics do not support cancel culture, many do not oppose it either.
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The news
The majority of academics do not support cancel culture even if the researcher is politically incorrect (with nuances)
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.