Most Liberal College Majors

[Al6200]

Have you ever wondered what college majors are the most liberal or conservative? In my experience, engineers and people in technical majors are more conservative, while liberals arts and humanities majors are more liberal. I hate to rely on stereotypes so I did a little bit of research to figure things out. Here are my results:

Using the total number of all conservatives and all liberals

Top 5 Most Conservative Majors

1. Foreign Language
2. Mathematics
3. Education
4. Engineering
5. Business

Top 5 Most Liberal Majors

1. Other Humanities
1. Government Civics
1. Psychology
4. Fine Arts
4. None

Excluding those who identified as only slightly liberal or only slightly conservative

Top 5 Most Conservative Majors

1. Foreign Language
2. Mathematics
3. Engineering
4. Vocational
5. Economics

Top 5 Most Liberal Majors

1. Psychology
2. None
3. Government-Civics
4. Foreign Language
5. English

I think that these results can be well explained. The Foreign Language sample is so small that it's more or less meaningless. The more technical majors have a higher mean and lower variation in their salaries after graduation, so they are more happy with the status quo and identify as more conservative.

The most liberal majors are liberal because lots of liberal arts majors are not able to get any jobs after graduation. Some graduates are able to go to a T14 law school or an investment bank and get a nice six figure salary out of school, but this seemingly arbitrary gap in salaries further reinforces the liberal notion that the unequal distribution of wealth is arbitrary and needs correction.

This is just what I think is the most direct explanation. There might be a more eloquent explanation: mathematicians are more conservative because they can see that Obama is dividing America.

Note on Methodology: Data taken from most recent General Social Survey, total sample is 776. All majors had 30 or more respondents, except for Foreign Language which had 4, Humanities which had 12, Economics which had 22, and Government which had 12.

[All-American-Badass]

Well looks like I'm gonna add to the amount of conservatives being a engineering major. What i also notice is the conservative jobs have a higher mean salary than the liberal jobs. The only thing there's really money in the liberal side is psychology, and that really doesn't have a high hiring rate out of college. however Engineering does.

[Warforger]

So extremists hate Government Civics?

[SmilezRoyale]

At 8/23/09 10:29 PM, Warforger wrote: So extremists hate Government Civics?

If you think about it, people on the Extreme left (Eg. Howard Zinn) and the Extreme Right (The Paleoconservative Right that is) Tend to dislike government.

of course left and right don't mean anything to me.

[Al6200]

At 8/23/09 10:18 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: Well looks like I'm gonna add to the amount of conservatives being a engineering major. What i also notice is the conservative jobs have a higher mean salary than the liberal jobs. The only thing there's really money in the liberal side is psychology, and that really doesn't have a high hiring rate out of college. however Engineering does.

The lawyers who go to top 14 schools (about 10% of all law students) usually have really good career prospects out of school. Also there are a lot of liberal arts students who go to investment banks right out of school.

But for the other students there really aren't too many good oppertunities.

[RydiaLockheart]

Funny how that works...one girl I knew who was conservative was undecided her first semester, then ended up as a foreign language major, because she wanted a military career. The most liberal students I met tended to be art majors. Another liberal major I noticed was music theory, which has far worse career potential. My guess for the liberal bend when it comes to certain majors is these students tend to be the bohemian or hippie type.

Here's another consideration: does what school the students attend skew the results any? Because if all the engineering majors are going to Brigham Young, for example, I can see that coming into play.

[Al6200]

It would indeed be interesting to look at school by school results. Unfortunately the study I looked at only had around 700 respondents, so separating the results by school would spread the sample sizes way too thin.

[Tri-Nitro-Toluene]

Can't help but think your accounting for the difference between them based on career prospects and therefore their predicted income is flawed. Looking at the lists of subjects you've posted, the conservative leaning ones tend to be things which are very ' There is only one correct way of doing things' and students might not be encouraged to challenge the norm as much. If they aren't expected to challenge the norm then I can easily see that as having an influence on political ideology.

Of course you've then got the question of whether or not people are affected by the coruse they are studying or whether they are drawn to the course based on their ideology.

The only thing I see which kind of goes against that is possibly Business and Economics, but I think that can be explained based on cultural factors in the US. Europe has a stronger heritage ( in recent years at any rate when it comes to academia) as challenging the status quo, whilst the beleifs in the U.S have been the status Quo for so long that you've got the beleif more ingrained into you more so than Europe has.

Of course I have no idea whether or not what i say is accurate, I'm just going on assumptions and what I know of the subjects mentioned as they are studied in Britain. Although I will state I'm a bit confused by the Foreign Language coming under conservative. I'd of thought that would have been a more Liberal subject as it relies on the student being a bit of a xenophiliac, a trait not normally associated with conservatives.

[Elfer]

I'm quite tickled to see that "none" is right up there with the most liberal majors.

With regards to technical majors, it might be a double effect. One, these people are happy with the status quo because it works out just fine for them, and two, if you're analytically inclined, you can see that what a lot of liberals say is bullshit.

For example, I consider myself a liberal, but many people (in Canada, anyway) would consider me at most "slightly liberal" since I'm in favour of nuclear power, and against gun control, and generally against party lines or undecided on a host of other issues.

I also find that while many liberals are brimming with good intentions, they have a tendency to act on them in the least efficient, most misinformed way possible, like people who send boxes of laptops and cell phones to impoverished nations.

One example I witnessed in person was a "wall of books" at my university's student centre, where people donated books to be flown overseas to students in other countries who would otherwise be unable to afford them. However, if they'd actually thought about what they were doing, they could have sold the books here, then used the proceeds to order international editions produced in those countries. Since international editions are dirt-cheap, they could have provided twenty times as many books, while allowing cheaper access to books for students here, and reducing environmental impact by having the books distributed domestically instead of shipping hundreds of pounds of paper across an ocean.

[poxpower]

At 8/24/09 09:35 AM, Elfer wrote: like people who send boxes of laptops and cell phones to impoverished nations.

Well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxr2GRJ6t jc&feature=channel_page

However, if they'd actually thought about what they were doing, they could have sold the books here, then used the proceeds to order international editions produced in those countries.

Dear lord, how many thousands of books did they have to sell?

[Elfer]

At 8/24/09 10:30 AM, poxpower wrote:

At 8/24/09 09:35 AM, Elfer wrote: like people who send boxes of laptops and cell phones to impoverished nations.

Well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxr2GRJ6t jc&feature=channel_page

Oh, laptops in Columbia absolutely makes sense. They've got the infrastructure ready to become an industrialized nation once the general population has skills to make themselves successful on a global scale.

However, when you're talking about people who can't even get clean water to drink or a proper diet to feed their kids, they're not going to be overjoyed to have cell phones for the whole village.

However, if they'd actually thought about what they were doing, they could have sold the books here, then used the proceeds to order international editions produced in those countries.

Dear lord, how many thousands of books did they have to sell?

It was at least a couple of hundred books. They could have sold them for say, 50-80 bucks each here, while international editions are only a couple of bucks a pop. People here get cheaper books, people overseas get a whole whack of books, everyone wins. It also avoids the whole hassle of physically transporting the books from one continent to another.

[Slizor]

At 8/24/09 05:00 AM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote: Can't help but think your accounting for the difference between them based on career prospects and therefore their predicted income is flawed. Looking at the lists of subjects you've posted, the conservative leaning ones tend to be things which are very ' There is only one correct way of doing things' and students might not be encouraged to challenge the norm as much. If they aren't expected to challenge the norm then I can easily see that as having an influence on political ideology.

This would certainly be my take on things. Although I would phrase it as the "subjects that have less (read no) focus on theory of knowledge issues". Engineering students in particular (from my experience) are very much the sort of people who will argue things like "well it's my opinion so it's valid", misunderstand the application of statistics, be unable to understand the validity of sources and generally be unable to deploy any other analytical viewpoints than their own.

One point about the first post. There isn't currently an indication, but if the stats are about people currently at Uni then the explaination posited is flawed because liberals can't be affected by the assumed unemployment they are yet to experience.....unless time starts moving backwards.

[fatape]

seem's like conservitive jobs are mostly focused on money, while liberal jobs are focused self expression and aid.

[TheMason]

I take exception with Government & Civics being liberal.

I mean if you're talking about job prospects let's look at what you can do with a political science degree:
* Military (conservative)
* Intelligence (conservative)
* Civilian Government (liberal & conservative)
* International Companies (mostly conservative)

Also, many conflate "studies" programs with Political Science. Women's Studies, American Studies, African-American Studies, Peace Studies, etc all have agendas and approach "research" from a very strong bias. They reject the norms of Political Science research...yet most people think they are part of us.

[Tri-Nitro-Toluene]

At 8/24/09 01:11 PM, TheMason wrote: American Studies, African-American Studies...most people think they are part of us.

Really? Those sorts of things are part of Humanities such as History in Britain. American Studies and any racially based studies fall under History at my uni for instance.

[TheSavant]

At 8/23/09 10:10 PM, Al6200 wrote: I think that these results can be well explained. The Foreign Language sample is so small that it's more or less meaningless. The more technical majors have a higher mean and lower variation in their salaries after graduation, so they are more happy with the status quo and identify as more conservative.

Ok, I can dig it.

The most liberal majors are liberal because lots of liberal arts majors are not able to get any jobs after graduation. Some graduates are able to go to a T14 law school or an investment bank and get a nice six figure salary out of school, but this seemingly arbitrary gap in salaries further reinforces the liberal notion that the unequal distribution of wealth is arbitrary and needs correction.

You really assume a lot here. I can see what you a trying to say, but your bias seems to be getting in the way.
Saying some of the "conservative major" grads are able to get a six figure salary out of school is like saying some people who are theater majors wind up making millions by getting in big movies. Sure, it happens, but it's hardly a majority of graduates on either spectrum. Such a thing is pretty rare.

I think that you'd be best off stating the mindset of people and comparing it to the type of thinking and philosophy their major requires instead of making assumptions on what their income level can be, and how that effects an individual.

This is just what I think is the most direct explanation. There might be a more eloquent explanation: mathematicians are more conservative because they can see that Obama is dividing America.

That is not eloquent. It is blunt. Furthermore, it does nothing to help your topic or argument, because it has nothing to do with the subject and is really just unnecessary flame baiting. How do you back this up?

Note on Methodology: Data taken from most recent General Social Survey, total sample is 776. All majors had 30 or more respondents, except for Foreign Language which had 4, Humanities which had 12, Economics which had 22, and Government which had 12.

Eh.. That's really a pretty thin pool to take your data from. Foreign Language should probably be hacked out entirely, anything else.. Well, I personally wouldn't add anything to the table unless it has at least 30 responses, although more is better, at least 100 would be most desirable. But I'm under the impression that you don't do this kind of thing for a living, so your smaller test size is ok for what it is. I'd just list exactly how many people answered for each major in the graph so that it is more clear how broad a scope we're looking at.

[Al6200]

At 8/24/09 02:10 PM, TheSavant wrote:

You really assume a lot here. I can see what you a trying to say, but your bias seems to be getting in the way.
Saying some of the "conservative major" grads are able to get a six figure salary out of school is like saying some people who are theater majors wind up making millions by getting in big movies. Sure, it happens, but it's hardly a majority of graduates on either spectrum. Such a thing is pretty rare.

I think that you'd be best off stating the mindset of people and comparing it to the type of thinking and philosophy their major requires instead of making assumptions on what their income level can be, and how that effects an individual.

I wasn't clear. Some liberal arts grads are able to get into investment banks or go to law school and get six figure salaries right out of college. I'm pretty sure that all first year associates at big law firms get 100k+ salaries.

That is not eloquent. It is blunt. Furthermore, it does nothing to help your topic or argument, because it has nothing to do with the subject and is really just unnecessary flame baiting. How do you back this up?

That was sort of meant as a bad joke. The mathematicians can see that Obama is DIVIDING America. They can probably also see that the Republicans are going to ADD a lot to Washington.

Eh.. That's really a pretty thin pool to take your data from. Foreign Language should probably be hacked out entirely, anything else.. Well, I personally wouldn't add anything to the table unless it has at least 30 responses, although more is better, at least 100 would be most desirable. But I'm under the impression that you don't do this kind of thing for a living, so your smaller test size is ok for what it is. I'd just list exactly how many people answered for each major in the graph so that it is more clear how broad a scope we're looking at.

Right, I just took the data from the General Social Survey.

[TheMason]

At 8/24/09 02:09 PM, Tri-Nitro-Toluene wrote:

At 8/24/09 01:11 PM, TheMason wrote: American Studies, African-American Studies...most people think they are part of us.

Really? Those sorts of things are part of Humanities such as History in Britain. American Studies and any racially based studies fall under History at my uni for instance.

I'm not talking about a class here and there such as Women in Literature or African-American History. Instead I'm talking about degree programs, things you can get an actual degree in.

The problem is most people outside of the humanities see someone like Ward Churchill spewing idiodicy about politics, and make a mental connection with poli sci.

[RubberTrucky]

How do you measure liberal and conservative?
What do you mean by it?

As a mathematician Im ranked highly conservative, so I really wonder why.

[VigilanteNighthawk]

Honestly, while I do find the correlation between choice of major interesting, I'd be more interested in comparing the results to those within the field. If your assertion that money is the motivating factor for conservatives picking their majors, I'd suggest that you would likely see a different spread in political affiliations of those actively working in the field, at least in the technical disciplines.

Most computer programmers I know or who frequent forums that I go to are moderately liberal. I believe that there are two reasons for this. First, if money if the only reason you get into a technical discipline, you probably will not last. With speed of technological advancement, you have to be willing to devote a good portion of your free time to expanding and updating your skills. Someone who is only in it for the money will fall behind or burnout.

Second, I suspect that there may be a conversion from conservative once they enter the working world. Conservatives tend to praise business in part because they believe that businesses are efficient and meritocracies. People in technical disciplines tend to focus on efficiency as well, so when they enter the working world, they are very likely to pick up on many of the inefficiencies of the business. As for meritocracy, this concept can be quickly thrown out the window depending on the company you work for.

Many companies use their HR departments to select candidate for interview. The technically inclined must then suffer round after round of being judged by individuals who in reality have no idea what it is that they do. Then after being hired, they end up dealing with management who again have no idea what they do, or worse, have a very basic level of understanding, but not enough to realize how limited that understanding is. Many programmers I've talked to become quickly jaded by this sort of thing.

[Idiot-Finder]

Nutritional Science?

[Al6200]

At 8/24/09 05:56 PM, RubberTrucky wrote: How do you measure liberal and conservative?
What do you mean by it?

People take a poll that asks them a bunch of questions. One of the questions is "If you attended college, what was your major?" Another question was "Do you identify as very liberal, somewhat liberal, slightly liberal, moderate, slightly conservative, somewhat conservative, very conservative, or don't know?" I just made a chart that compared the answers to those two questions.

[adrshepard]

Assuming this is a representative model, I'm surprised by the spread in education majors. I would have thought they would be mostly liberal since they want to spend their lives mucking through angry parents, ever-changing state programs, and minor pay so they can "help the children." The "touchy-feely" mentality does show itself in the psychology graph.

I want to meet an extremist conservative fine arts major.

[RubberTrucky]

At 8/24/09 09:20 PM, Al6200 wrote:
People take a poll that asks them a bunch of questions. One of the questions is "If you attended college, what was your major?" Another question was "Do you identify as very liberal, somewhat liberal, slightly liberal, moderate, slightly conservative, somewhat conservative, very conservative, or don't know?" I just made a chart that compared the answers to those two questions.

I see. i tend to believe, though, that this is not a global result. Amongst my peers, I mostly noticed that they tend to be liberal rather than conservative. Or that's at least the message I got from them.

[dudewithashotgun29]

wow, someone did his research