Comment about this article by Jonah Mix
“As academics and activists whose work involves some very controversial issues, we’re all personally aware of the pressure to self-censor in the face of prevailing taboos related to gender and sex. But that feeling received some solid empirical backing recently (2024) with the publication of a paper in Perspectives on Psychological Science, which explored trends in self-censorship among over 400 American psychological professors. The paper, “Taboos and Self-Censorship Among U.S. Psychology Professors,” demonstrated that almost all surveyed professors were concerned with the possible social consequences of voicing unpopular opinions, with those who held more “taboo” views more likely to report self-censoring in their personal and professional lives. Interestingly, most professors opposed attempts to punish academics for these controversial views, even though these attempts are regularly successful enough to inspire real fear in those responding.

These results are just more evidence for a proposition that is becoming increasingly obvious to many in academia today: While concern for marginalized groups is essential, allowing discourse in the social sciences to be artificially constrained by the fear of social and professional consequences is untenable, and risks seriously distorting the true consensus around controversial issues. Preventing academics from honestly investigating these taboo subjects doesn’t just degrade the quality of the scholarship produced. It also degrades the public’s confidence in academia more broadly, even if that work really does authentically reflect the views of the author. Until readers are able to trust that researchers are reporting their work accurately, free from external pressures, essential disciplines in the social sciences will be increasingly marginalized. With this dire outcome in mind, we encourage academics to take a different approach. We must make room for controversial and uncomfortable ideas in the social sciences, actively push back on norms and expectations that encourage self-censorship, and commit to showing bravery when we find ourselves in the uncomfortable but necessary position of challenging prevailing taboos.”

 

Clark2024-Academic-self-censorship-USA

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