# The lack of conservatives in social sciences **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 23, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166 "2013-05-23T21:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/61 "2013-05-25T03:13:25Z")
A conservative with an inclination toward a career in Social Sciences would be far more likely to enter the field via a degree in Divinity or Bible Studies. And many do…often through places like Bob Jones U or Liberty U. After all, what is a Clergyman but a glorified social worker? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/62 "2013-05-25T04:51:10Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > He was fired because a bunch of progressive swine started squealing “Racist! Racist! Racist!” and the folks at Heritage Foundation, with typical conservative cowardice, promptly shat their pants and hustled Richwine out the door with indecent haste. > > His doctoral thesis, the research to which you seem to be referring, was only attacked after the progressive porkers started squealing. The fact that both individuals and groups vary greatly in IQ is about as scientifically non-controversial as you can get, and those who deny that fact are in the same league as Holocaust deniers and creationists. And Richwine never said they were a race. His thesis merely took into account the well-established fact that Hispanic immigrants have on average significantly lower IQs than Anglos and tried to address the question of how this fact should affect immigration policies. > > This sort of thing happens at more or less regular intervals. A progressive journalist or activist will target some conservative figure with accusations of racism, homophobia or some other such nonsense, and other lefties will start squealing along with the rest of the herd. No one will support the targeted figure for fear of becoming targets themselves, the victim’s career is derailed or altogether destroyed, and then the progs have made their message clear: “Do as we say, or we’ll do the same to you.” The purpose of such periodic demands for sacrifices is the same as that of lynch mobs and pogroms–to assert the power of one group over another. Witch hunts such as these are designed to assert the power of progressives over everybody else. This post is even stupider than your last post and is full of the same tiresome racist bullshit we always hear from the site’s resident scientific racists. It’s actually sad that they think they’re making new arguments when the arguments can be traced back to Thomas Jefferson’s claim that black people smelled differently than whites. Anyway, yes, as moronic as trying to prove that “blacks” are less intelligent than “whites” due to genetics trying to prove that of “hispanics” and whites is even more moronic. Anyway, please answer the question I asked of you. Are you seriously arguing that Cameron Diaz and Charlie Sheen aren’t “white” because they are both Latino? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/63 "2013-05-25T04:55:14Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > if you are stupid enough to go conservative It’s grossly unfair to call all conservatives stupid. Beyond that, I nearly pissed myself laughing at someone who decided to link conservatism with scientific racism. Also, once again, people who somehow claim scientific racism is suppressed show gross ignorance of the history of American academia. A hundred years ago, belief in eugenics amongst American universities was nearly universal. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/64 "2013-05-25T13:06:28Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Jesus… is it time for the quarterly debunking of the racist intelligence debate? Aw, man, there just aren’t enough synonyms for the word “stupid” to describe that post. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/65 "2013-05-25T13:50:00Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > [Riiiiiight…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37OWL7AzvHo) > > [The Heritage Foundation's Immigration Guru Wasn't Just Racist — He's Wrong - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/05/heritage-foundation-jason-richwine/65005/) Ah, yes. A quote from the blog of a bobblehead writing for a liberal magazine. Very impressive. Next time, why don’t you tell us what your mommy said about it? That would really be a knockout blow! ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/66 "2013-05-25T13:53:40Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In the linked cite, the article links to: > > Hispanics, the New Italians > By DAVID LEONHARDT > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/sunday-review/hispanics-the-new-italians.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=1&](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/sunday-review/hispanics-the-new-italians.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&) > > With more links to the supporting research. > > So, once again… > Riiiiiiight… Ah, I see. Apparently the editorial pages of the New York Times have recently been reclassified as a peer reviewed scientific journal. Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/67 "2013-05-25T13:56:04Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > His doctoral thesis, the research to which you seem to be referring, was only attacked after the progressive porkers started squealing. The fact that both individuals and groups vary greatly in IQ is about as scientifically non-controversial as you can get, and those who deny that fact are in the same league as Holocaust deniers and creationists. And Richwine never said they were a race. His thesis merely took into account the well-established fact that Hispanic immigrants have on average significantly lower IQs than Anglos and tried to address the question of how this fact should affect immigration policies. How do you think it’s not racist? What do you think is the point of such research? It’s to provide a “legitimate” scientific basis for declaring one group superior to others. Once it’s a scientific “fact”, well then you can easily institutionalize your racism by excluding “less intelligent” groups from certain jobs, or educations. [QUOTE=Ibn Warraq] It’s grossly unfair to call all conservatives stupid. [/quote] No, but for some reason a lot of stupid, mean-spirited, narrow-minded people are attracted to conservatism. > [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Aw, man, there just aren’t enough synonyms for the word “stupid” to describe that post. Maybe you just aren’t smart enough to come up with them?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/68 "2013-05-25T15:06:42Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Aw, man, there just aren’t enough synonyms for the word “stupid” to describe that post. You could try. Or you could actually understand the science on the issue. Empirically, your argument is unsupported. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/69 "2013-05-25T15:53:07Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Ah, I see. Apparently the editorial pages of the New York Times have recently been reclassified as a peer reviewed scientific journal. Good to know. Actually this killing the messenger fallacy shows to all why many conservatives are not in the social sciences. The article, as well as the other one, links to the background of the researchers and scientists background and to the studies that support what they claim. > **[Second-Generation Americans](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/02/07/second-generation-americans/)** > > Chapter 1: Overview Second-generation Americans—the 20 million adult U.S.-born children of immigrants—are substantially better off than immigrants > **[Immigrants and the Labor Market](https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlabec/v24y2006i2p203-234.html)** > > This article examines skill gaps between immigrants and native-born Americans and generational progress achieved by different immigrant ethnic groups. Evidence of a widening skill gap is not strong. W > **[IV. College Graduation and Hispanics](https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2012/08/20/iv-college-graduation-and-hispanics/)** > > Over the past four decades, the number of Hispanics graduating with either an associate or a bachelor’s degree has increased seven-fold, with growth ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/70 "2013-05-25T18:46:40Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > It’s grossly unfair to call all conservatives stupid. > > Beyond that, I nearly pissed myself laughing at someone who decided to link conservatism with scientific racism. > > Also, once again, people who somehow claim scientific racism is suppressed show gross ignorance of the history of American academia. > > A hundred years ago, belief in eugenics amongst American universities was nearly universal. I didn’t call all conservatives stupid, but your selective editing made it sound like it. Nicely played. I was not linking conservatism with scientific racism, I was looking at this recent incident that **Lonesome Polecat** brought out. There are two parts of his dissertation that I have seen - his proposal that we need a new way of identifying potential among immigration applicants, instead of just looking at education levels. That proposal is the one that the NYT seemed to like a few years ago. The economic impact of immigration, especially when immigration is among low-skilled workers, is a field of ongoing debate. It would be nice to have that debate without screaming racism at someone. His use of IQ is a problem when tied to race. I would love to know what his dissertation committee said about that part of his research. Was it only a very small part, was it just touching a few areas, did they just ignore it? I have trouble believing that he made it past both his proposal AND his review with something that now everyone thinks is so horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166/71 "2013-05-26T00:39:36Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I was not linking conservatism with scientific racism, Yes, you did. You linked conservatism with a scientific racist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lack-of-conservatives-in-social-sciences/659166.md?page=3)