iStock
As November 3 approaches, many Americans believe that in this election liberal democracy hangs in the balance.
But the politicians we choose to represent and lead us are symptoms of existing anxieties and beliefs. Whatever you think of the impending election, the long-term future of liberal democracy rests not with our current leaders but with our own deep-seated inclinations. According to a recent Georgetown University report, higher education, and particularly liberal arts education, makes Americans less inclined toward authoritarianism—and therefore may be the best long-term protection against a rising tide of illiberalism.
The report, which consolidates results from three leading national and international surveys, finds that the U.S. population is moderately inclined toward authoritarianism, much less so than in countries like Brazil and Russia, but considerably more so than in countries like Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden.
Yet, according to the Georgetown study, the United States leads the world in one category: the association between higher education and lower inclinations toward authoritarianism. Americans with post-secondary education are significantly less likely to hold authoritarian preferences than peers with only a high school education.
The connection? Higher levels of educational attainment are associated with a greater sense of self-esteem, personal security, and autonomy, key factors that reduce a tendency toward authoritarianism. When people feel as though they have control over their lives, they are “less threatened by ideas and practices different from their own.” As such, the report concludes, “they are less likely to be enticed by authoritarian appeals that promise security from outsiders with views, cultures, or norms different from their own.”
And why does American higher education stand out in this regard? The report’s authors credit the distinctive emphasis American colleges and universities place on liberal learning beyond specialized and vocational instruction. It’s the intro courses in the humanities and social sciences—often regarded as hurdles one must overcome before the “real work” of major-specific courses begins—that serve as the bulwark against authoritarianism.
As the authors note, higher education promotes habits of mind that resists the “unquestioning acceptance of information and ideas that is characteristic of authoritarianism. These habits include independent thought, consideration of diverse viewpoints, critical examination of established orthodoxy, and inquisitive assessment.”
It’s courses in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, they argue, that expose students to “diverse contexts, histories, ideas, lifestyles, religions, ways of life, and cultures.” It’s in the liberal arts disciplines that students learn to “evaluate unfamiliar practices on the basis of evidence instead of assuming that such practices are detrimental or dangerous, as their cultural biases may have conditioned them to believe.”
Anyone who works in higher education—indeed, anyone concerned about the fate of liberal democracy—is likely to hear this as a sorely needed piece of good news. In our institutions of higher learning, the United States has an in-built system that guards against tyranny.
But don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
While these findings are heartening, they come at a precarious juncture for American higher education: The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed crushing financial pressure on colleges and universities. Prior to the pandemic, disciplines like philosophy and history that inoculate against authoritarian attitudes had already experienced cuts and consolidation. The current economic crisis has only made things worse.
Further, American higher education is facing serious criticism as to whether it is living up to its promise to cultivate habits of independent thought, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and critical examination of established orthodoxy. And it’s not just conservatives who have these doubts. According to a recent report, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) finds that 62% of students who identify as politically moderate engage in self-censorship out of concern for how peers, instructors, and the administration might respond. FIRE also reports that a significant minority (42%) believe that people who express views that others find offensive will be punished. If prevailing orthodoxy cannot be challenged through open and honest inquiry, higher ed is less prepared to serve as a bulwark against authoritarianism.
I’m not among those who have written higher education off. On the contrary, when colleges and universities are at their best, they cultivate minds that interrogate accepted wisdom, question power, and resist the authoritarian hand that crushes dissent and peaceful challenge. That said, the Georgetown report offers a sobering reminder of what’s at stake if the academy fails to attend to its core purpose of cultivating minds that are fit for self-governance in a free society.
On November 3, like millions of American voters, I will cast my ballot. But I will also remind myself that the presidential election is not the pivot point that will tip us toward or away from authoritarianism. When it comes to shoring up American resilience against tyranny, politics matter, but ideas matter more.
