[lbo-talk] Engineers and Republican/libertarian bent

[Wojtek S]

[WS:]  Chuck G. is right.  There small businessman mentality seems to be the
root cause of conservatism of many engineering types.  I would also add
another factor: cognitive rigidity an intolerance of uncertainty and
ambiguity that creates emotional need for control and certitude.  Many
engineers (including my old man) seem to have that trait - that is perhaps
what attracted them to engineering in the first place (the more creative and
free-thinking types tend to gravitate toward arts, humanities and
social/behavioral sciences.)  From that, there is only a small step to
embrace an ideology that professes "law and order" which in this country
happens to be conservative but elsewhere (eg. former Soviet bloc) can be
communist.

Wojtek

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Bryan Atinsky <bryan at alt-info.org> wrote:


> Hi all, I know of studies that relate engineering to extremist mindsets,
> but is there any statistics about the number/percentage of engineers voting
> republican/libertarian?
>
> Or is this an old-wives tale?
>
> Bryan
>
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