Not a news for me, as I have observed this phenomenon for long. Probably this is a sociologist conspiracy to deflect some funds of engineering school to their school. :)
On a serious note, I had this discussion on another list about over-representation of engineers in Islamist or other terrorist movements. To my mind, one plausible explanation is that that applied sciences make people adept at using tools but do little to shake inherited beliefs and prejudices. Natural sciences and liberal arts tend to broaden one's outlook on life and world
and hence, people with these majors are less susceptible to be deluded by extremist causes.
The authors call it a mindset that inclines them to take more extreme conservative and religious positions.
A past survey in the United States has already shown that the proportion of engineers who declare themselves to be on the right of the political spectrum is greater than any other disciplinary groups--such as economists, doctors, scientists, and those in the humanities and social sciences.
The authors note that the mindset is universal.
Whether American, Canadian or Islamic, they pointed out that a disproportionate share of engineers seem to have a mindset that makes them open to the quintessential right-wing features of "monoism" (why argue where there is one best solution) and by "simplism" (if only people were rational, remedies would be simple).
No comments:
Post a Comment