George Leef’s latest Martin Center column focuses on a new book that tallies damage linked to groupthink in the academy.
Does social science research and understanding suffer because most of the individuals working in the field are on the left side of the political spectrum? A new book gives us strong reasons to think so.
The book is entitled The Politics of Social Psychology and was edited by professors Jarret Crawford and Lee Jussim. Its 15 chapters were written by academics, nearly all of them in university psychology departments. The common thread is the malign consequences of the ideological conformity that exists in their field.
In their introduction, Crawford and Jussim ask,
“What happens when the tools of the scientific method are used, intentionally or not, to advance and confirm one’s political beliefs and values rather than to discover truth? What happens when one’s scientific hypotheses are enmeshed with one’s outlook on life, society, and politics?”
Their answer is that the progress of science is slowed or even stopped.
