Half Hour of Heterodoxy

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Rick Shweder on Multiculturalism and Diversity: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #9 Aug 22, 2017

Show notes

Apologies for the audio and video problems in this episode. In this episode, Chris Martin interviews Rick (Richard) Shweder, cultural anthropologist at University of Chicago’s Department of Comparative Human Development. He is author and editor of numerous books including Thinking Through Cultures: Expeditions in Cultural Psychology and Why Do Men Barbecue? Recipes for Cultural Psychology. His recent research examines the scopes and limits of pluralism, the tension between diversity and equality, and the multicultural challenge in Western liberal democracies. You can learn more Rick Shweder at his website. A new paper by Rick, entitled “The End of the Modern Academy: At The University of Chicago, For Example” will be published in Social Research this fall. 0:00 Introduction 2:15 The undergraduate curriculum and multiculturalism: inclusion vs. sovereignty 6:50 Intersectionality is not consistent with solidarity 9:30 The fracture within cultural anthropology 17:30 America allows a lot of cultural diversity 22:00 Confusionism 24:45 Do international students help viewpoint diversity? 29:00 Opposing perspectives on academic subculture Selected Quote: "Once you start all of a sudden emphasizing status or seeing yourself as a tribal institution with different groups and different tribes, each of whom is really an interest group promoting their picture of the world and really is not interested in challenges to it; or challenges get perceived as offensive attacks or as harms, then you’ve changed the nature of the [academic] subculture. Too what extent that subculture has already changed is one of the things I know that people at Heterodox Academy are concerned with. I certainly am concerned about it. And whether or not the picture of the modern academy that I just gave is sustainable, how many people are prepared to defend it, these are all issues of the day." Other episodes of Half Hour of Heterodoxy.

Jacques Berlinerblau on How College Works (Or Doesn’t): Half Hour of Heterodoxy #8 Aug 17, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, Chris Martin (@Chrismartin76) interviews Jacques Berlinerblau (@berlinerblau), Professor of Jewish Civilization and director of the Center for Jewish Civilization at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Jacques talks about his new book, Campus Confidential: How College Works or Doesn’t, for Professors, Parents, and Students 0:00 Three factions in humanities departments 04:40 Advice for grads and undergrads in the humanities 11:20 How to repair the academy 13:30 Active learning and elite high school students 16:30 What should professors be like? 19:45 The secret weapon or creating intellectual diversity 24:00 The big fissure in the intellectual world 28:35 Does left-wing ideology resemble a religion? See also: "When your next college free speech controversy erupts, don’t blame liberals" (Washington Post). Quote on the Three Factions in the Humanities: "People like Bill Maher strangely enough or Fox News often think of American academic culture as they would think of American political culture—in American academic culture, we have red/blue, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat—a binary. Everything is stuffed into that binary. On a typical American college campus, in particular an elite liberal arts college campus, you actually have three factions. A tiny, deplorably small cohort of conservative scholars. Something like 2 percent of professors of English are registered Republicans. To me that’s mind boggling. You have a much larger cohort of liberals—a graying cohort of liberals. But the energy and enthusiasm and the excitement among what I would call the far Left. These might be readers of Michel Foucault. These might be readers of Jacques Derrida….My argument is they’re basically half to 60 to 70% of every major humanities department at every major college in the United States so we have to be very cautious when we blame liberals for free speech policies on campus. As far as I can tell, this doesn’t emanate from liberals. Liberals share on college campuses a lot in common with conservatives in terms of their thinking on free speech issues." On whether left-wing ideology is like a religion: "Everything is different now. I’m not worried about the Left today. I’m really worried about the Right. I’m terrified about what is going on in the country post-Charlottesville…. The academic left, for all the things I dislike about them, has not shown itself to be violent or unlawful in any shape or form. Is it a religious worldview? I think the Marxists were that way in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. The Foucauldians are so hard to figure out. I just don’t understand what makes them tick." Other episodes of Half Hour of Heterodoxy.

Lee Jussim on Stereotype Accuracy and Biased Science: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #7 Jul 11, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, Chris Martin (@Chrismartin76) interviews Lee Jussim (@PsychRabble), Professor of Social Psychology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He conducts research on stereotypes and stereotype accuracy, and blogs at Rabble Rouser. 0:00 Lee’s work on the myth of stereotype inaccuracy 7:11 Blatant biases in conventional social research 10:26 What’s inside Lee’s upcoming books about politics & social psychology? 14:57 Is stereotype accuracy finally getting the coverage it needs? 23:20 People mostly discard stereotypes when they have individuating information 26:57 Stereotypes of liberals and conservatives—accuracy, inaccuracy, and real-world problems 33:00 It’s the prejudice, not the stereotyping **** You can learn more Lee Jussim at his website. Here’s a recent talk by Lee: Science Going Bad and How to Improve It. Books mentioned during the interview: Social Perception and Social Reality: Why Accuracy Dominates Bias and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy by Lee Jussim: The Politics of Social Psychology, edited by Jarret T. Crawford and Lee Jussim Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, 2nd edition, edited by Todd D. Nelson: Selected Quotes "I would like to think of my field of social psychology as a scientific field. I believe in science. I am enthusiastic about it. And so I am acutely pained when the field that I so strongly identify with, and want to advance, has basic failures in conduct as a normal science. And I discovered these failures when I examined the claims about stereotype inaccuracy." * "The idea of confirmation bias is people they selectively seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, and they’re more critical of information that disconfirms their beliefs. And as far as I can tell those patterns really do pervade the social sciences. And one way that manifests is—compare stereotype accuracy or inaccuracy to almost any area! If people are going to make any claim that say intrinsic motivation increases academic achievement, they’re going to have data to support the claim. They’re either going to have their own data or cite some famous review article or meta-analysis. But if they want to claim that stereotypes are inaccurate, they don’t need any data—that’s fine! You can just do that!!!" * "If people on the extreme left are over-represented—and there is good evidence for that in academia, especially in the social sciences and humanities—and if such people are most likely to unjustifiable exaggerate the views of their ideological opponents, you’re going to have academia filled with people who despise conservatives because they truly see them as fascists and Nazis. And so why is that a problem? It’s a problem intellectually for all sorts of reasons. It feeds back into the confirmation bias problem. To the extent that the social sciences address political issues and simply stigmatize people who disagree with their views then it’s going to be very difficult to have an honest conversation about zillions of politicized issues." Other episodes of Half Hour of Heterodoxy.

Matt Grossmann on Asymmetric Polarization: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #6 Jul 03, 2017

Show notes

Chris Martin talks to Matt Grossmann, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University and director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. He specializes in the study of interest groups and parties.

His latest book is Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats, co-authored with David A. Hopkins.

Cristine Legare on Socioeconomic Diversity & Teaching Controversial Topics: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #5 Jun 20, 2017

Show notes

Chris Martin interviews Cristine Legare, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas-Austin. She specializes in the study of culture, cultural learning, and cognition. She is a winner of the 2015 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions.

April Kelly-Woessner on Declining Political Tolerance: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #4 Jun 05, 2017

Show notes

Chris Martin interviews April Kelly-Woessner, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Legal Studies at Elizabethtown College. She specializes in public opinion, mass behavior, and political psychology. She is the co-editor of The Still Divided Academy: How Competing Visions of Power Politics and Diversity Complicate the Mission of Higher Education (2011).

Sam Abrams on the Politics of the Professoriate: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #3 May 30, 2017

Show notes

Political scientist Sam Abrams teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. His New York Times piece on the polarization of the New England professoriate garnered national attention. In this episode Chris Martin talks to him about what inspired his work on the professoriate, and where his current research is taking him.

George Yancey (North Texas) on Anti-Christian Bias & Race Relations: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #2 May 22, 2017

Show notes

Chris Martin talks to sociologist George Yancey, another founding member of Heterodox Academy. George Yancey teaches sociology at the University of North Texas. He has published numerous books on anti-Christian bias within the academy and in the community at large. He has also written about multiracial churches and a “mutual responsibility model” for addressing structural racism.

Jon Zimmerman on The Case for Contention: Half Hour of Heterodoxy #1 May 15, 2017

Show notes

In this inaugural interview, Chris Martin speaks with Jon Zimmerman, professor of history of education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. Jon Zimmerman is a former social studies teacher and Peace Corps volunteer. His research has been about educational controversies and debates.

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