{"id":45315,"date":"2018-09-18T13:24:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T20:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45315"},"modified":"2018-09-18T13:24:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T20:24:38","slug":"the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/","title":{"rendered":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscover what your professors never taught you in school,\u201d an American white supremacist group\u2019s website declares. Many of the site\u2019s \u201ceducation\u201d links lead, predictably, to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist publications. But tucked in-between a description of \u201cwhite identity\u201d and \u201cthe perils of diversity\u201d is a link to Robert Putnam\u2019s mainstream scholarly treatise, Bowling Alone<\/a> \u2013 <\/i>a book published in 2000 that traces the steady decline in Americans\u2019 civic and community engagement over the latter half of the 20th century. <\/i><\/p>\n

This may seem counterintuitive. Why would a white supremacist group promote the work of a Harvard political scientist who is at the core of the intellectual elite that conservative and right-wing groups love to hate? Higher education has been increasingly lambasted<\/a> by conservatives and the far right, who often argue<\/a> that liberal professors are promoting leftist agendas through their research and teaching (despite evidence<\/a> showing that liberal professors do not produce more liberal students).<\/p>\n

These critiques have a long history in the US, dating at least to the McCarthyism of the 1950s and the hunt for communist academics. A renewed wave of attacks on social science under the 1980s Reagan administration led to declines<\/a> in sociology enrolments and eventually to the now-widespread conservative criticism and attacks on funding for higher education, as well as to a broader anti-intellectual sentiment among the American populace.<\/p>\n

Anti-higher education critiques have evolved over the past few years<\/a>, however, into more extreme attacks on individual social scientists<\/a>\u2019 teaching and research, both online and in public academic discussions. At an event I attended in Oslo featuring two sociologists and a political scientist last spring, far right activists filled the audience and hijacked the question-and-answer session with hostile queries about academic bias.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the extreme right is content to deploy scholarly analyses<\/a> of race, immigration, crime and identity for their own ends. For instance, Putnam\u2019s arguments about Americans\u2019 increasing disconnection from civil society and local communities helps the far right make claims about the supposed consequences of increasing diversity and immigration on community cohesion and identity. Arguments that draw on reputable scholars or sources are harder to dismiss and enhance far right groups\u2019 efforts to present themselves as more mainstream.<\/p>\n

What can sociologists do? The field has been understandably focused on how to respond to far right attacks on individual scholars, providing guidance about how individuals, universities, and disciplinary associations can take steps to protect themselves<\/a> and respond to threats in the event of harassment or abuse. But that focus should not distract us from understanding how social science research can also be deployed by the right.<\/p>\n

We can start by being clearer about the relevance of sociological research. Gone are the days when scholars could \u201cleave the policy implications to the policymakers\u201d, as I was advised during graduate school. Social scientists should not assume that research findings will be used for benevolent ends.<\/p>\n

At a minimum, this means being alert to how research findings are used and being prepared to counter misinterpretations, misapplications or distortions.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/b>Cynthia Miller-Idriss is professor of education and sociology at the American University in Washington, DC. Her most recent book is The Extreme Gone Mainstream<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDiscover what your professors never taught you in school,\u201d an American white supremacist group\u2019s website declares. Many of the site\u2019s \u201ceducation\u201d links lead, predictably, to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist publications. But tucked in-between a description of \u201cwhite identity\u201d and \u201cthe perils of diversity\u201d is a link to Robert Putnam\u2019s mainstream scholarly treatise, Bowling Alone \u2013 […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":45316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[224419],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-45315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-social-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cDiscover what your professors never taught you in school,\u201d an American white supremacist group\u2019s website declares. Many of the site\u2019s \u201ceducation\u201d links lead, predictably, to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist publications. But tucked in-between a description of \u201cwhite identity\u201d and \u201cthe perils of diversity\u201d is a link to Robert Putnam\u2019s mainstream scholarly treatise, Bowling Alone \u2013 […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"383\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"The far right\u2019s love\\\/hate relationship with social science\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":536,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/social-science.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"social science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/\",\"name\":\"The far right\u2019s love\\\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/social-science.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/social-science.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/social-science.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":383},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The far right\u2019s love\\\/hate relationship with social science\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"\u201cDiscover what your professors never taught you in school,\u201d an American white supremacist group\u2019s website declares. Many of the site\u2019s \u201ceducation\u201d links lead, predictably, to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist publications. But tucked in-between a description of \u201cwhite identity\u201d and \u201cthe perils of diversity\u201d is a link to Robert Putnam\u2019s mainstream scholarly treatise, Bowling Alone \u2013 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":383,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science","datePublished":"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/"},"wordCount":536,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg","keywords":["social science"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/","name":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-18T20:24:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/social-science.jpg","width":680,"height":383},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-far-rights-love-hate-relationship-with-social-science\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The far right\u2019s love\/hate relationship with social science"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45315"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}