ERIC Number: EJ868331
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Apr
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1049-0965
EISSN: N/A
I Think My Professor Is a Democrat: Considering Whether Students Recognize and React to Faculty Politics
Woessner, Matthew; Kelly-Woessner, April
PS: Political Science and Politics, v42 n2 p343-352 Apr 2009
Notwithstanding political science professors' concerted efforts to remain politically neutral in the classroom, we find evidence that students are able to successfully identify the partisan loyalties of their professors. Furthermore, we find that there is a tendency for students to drift toward the Democratic Party over the course of the semester, yet the direction of the shift appears to be unrelated to either the instructor's actual political loyalties, or to the student's perception of the professor's partisan preferences. Given that political science professors appear to exert no real influence on students' party loyalties, it is unclear whether efforts to diversify the field by hiring more Republican professors would actually reduce the "liberalizing" effects of higher education.
Descriptors: Political Science, Politics, Political Attitudes, College Faculty, Teacher Characteristics, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Diversity (Faculty), College Environment
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A