Follow this link to the New York Times column that discusses a sociological study to find out if and why academy is oriented toward the liberal side of the political spectrum.

The study is by Neil Gross and Ethan Fosse. One conclusion they reach is that certain jobs get typecast so that different people choose different careers based on this typecasting.

The column ends with a quote.

To Mr. Gross, accusations by conservatives of bias and student brainwashing are self-defeating. The irony is that the more conservatives complain about academia’s liberalism, he said, the more likely it’s going to remain a bastion of liberalism.

One might also note that conservatives might prefer the higher salaries in the business world to the salaries in academia.

One possible reason why The United States is losing its competitive advantage in industry is that some of the brightest students get lured into Finance and Law because of the higher salaries than even Engineering or Science let alone the Liberal Arts.