Identity Politics in the Sciences
City Journal Audio
Manhattan Institute
4.7 ā¢ 657 Ratings
šļø 13 June 2018
ā±ļø 26 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
Heather Mac DonaldĀ joinsĀ Brian AndersonĀ to discuss how universities and the scientific community are being pressured to alter the gender and racial balance in STEMĀ disciplines--science, technology, engineering, and math--and the implications forĀ theĀ American future.
For decades,Ā multiculturalism, quotas, and identity politics have been pervasive inĀ humanities departments at most major universities--but not in scientific fields. Now that's changing, as the identity-politics obsession has penetratedĀ STEM programs, and administrators, professors, and other officials attemptĀ to increase the number of women and minorities in the field, by almost any means necessary. AsĀ Mac Donald writes, this pressure is "changing how science is taught and how scientific qualifications are evaluated. The results will be disastrous for scientific innovation and for American competitiveness."
Read Heather Mac Donald's essay, "How Identity Politics Is Harming the Sciences," in the Spring 2018 Issue ofĀ City Journal.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Identity politics has engulfed the humanities and social sciences on American campuses. |
| 0:05.9 | Now it is taking over the hard sciences. So writes Heather McDonald in her essay for the |
| 0:11.4 | spring issue of City Journal, how identity politics is harming the sciences. From universities |
| 0:16.9 | to the corporate world, diversity initiatives are sweeping the country. |
| 0:21.0 | When it comes to higher education, we know that the liberal arts programs and major universities |
| 0:25.7 | have long been directed by leftist faculty, typically committed to identity politics. |
| 0:31.9 | The STEM fields, that science, technology, engineering, and math, however, have largely resisted this trend, |
| 0:39.4 | remaining a haven for meritocracy. But the pressure is mounting to increase racial and gender |
| 0:45.2 | diversity. As Heather illustrates in her important essay, the country's top schools, scientific |
| 0:50.8 | groups, and even federal agencies are changing how science is taught and |
| 0:55.8 | how scientific qualifications are evaluated. |
| 0:59.3 | And according to her, the results will be disastrous for scientific innovation and American |
| 1:04.3 | competitiveness. |
| 1:05.8 | We'll talk to Heather MacDonald after this. |
| 1:27.8 | Welcome back to the 10 Blocks podcast. |
| 1:29.3 | I'm your host, Brian Anderson. We're joined today by Heather McDonald. |
| 1:32.2 | Heather is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a long-time |
| 1:36.8 | contributing editor to City Journal and author of the New York Times, bestseller The War on Cops. |
| 1:42.1 | She has an important new book coming out this fall, The Diversity |
| 1:45.4 | Delusion, How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and undermine our culture, which can |
| 1:51.9 | be found already on Amazon. We're here to talk about her latest essay, which appears in the |
| 1:57.3 | spring issue of City Journal, how identity politics is harming the sciences. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Manhattan Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Manhattan Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright Ā© Tapesearch 2026.