There's a range within any profession of course (I knew an emerging writer in Alberta who wanted to run for the Canadian Alliance) but since librarians are one group that, for the most part, tends towards the progressive side of the spectrum, I was wondering which other groups/professions fit this criteria where the large majority of their members would be considered progressive/liberal/enlightened/lefty/socialist in their attitudes and approach to life?
Right at the top of the list, I'd put artists (writers, musicians, actors, dancers, etc.) as a fairly obvious choice.
University professors are another group that's often cited as being very progressive in general.
Librarians are right up there as I mentioned (I can't remember where I saw it but I think there was a report showing professors donated 10:1 for John Kerry over GW Bush in the 2004 election but librarians donated 100:1 for Kerry.)
Journalists probably fit here as well. (What's the line – “yes, there's a liberal bias in the media. Unfortunately, there's a conservative bias the boardroom above them.”)
And the whole reason I thought of making this list is there's a group that doesn't spring to mind as a progressive profession but increasingly, are at the forefront of a a lot of positive social changes.
Conversely, which professions are the most conservative in general? Business people. Politicians (I'd argue that even the ones belonging to progressive parties are often fairly conservative just because of the bureaucratic structure within which politics works.) Although there are some brilliant exceptions, I think I'd put teachers in this category as well.
And finally, which professions are nearly evenly split? Doctors. Farmers. Bloggers. 🤡
Who'd I miss?
Comments 4
I'd bet teachers are pretty evenly split. I think it all depends on why you are entering a particular profession, for example, as a teacher, you might be concerned about social change and justice and want to have a part in molding the next generation.
However, some teachers might go into it simply wanting a stable line of work, enjoying work with children and teaching the same kinds of subjects and lessons they learned in school.
The same goes for librarianship, although as a group, I think we are considered to be fairly progressive, I also know that there are people entering the profession who are looking for and expecting the traditional practices & methods that can be associated with librarians.
I also believe there are some occupations that perhaps leave more room for progress, where others might need a certain level of pushing to consider 'doing things differently'.
How do we measure 'progressive', does it mean activism, or political affiliation? Is it just a willingness to change your practices or to keep an open mind to an overhaul within the profession?
I'm starting to sound like 501..so I'll go now. 😉
It's stereotyping in a way but I was trying to generalize about the attitudes and beliefs of people who enter a profession as a whole. So I wasn't thinking about activism or political affiliation specifically (although that could definitely be part of it) but more of a sense of what “type” of people each profession attracts.
Yeah, I've been a bit down on teachers lately which probably biased my categorization of them. I recently made an inquiry about a library job with a local school division and in answer to a specific question about benefits, was told “oh, that's only for teachers – not support staff” which sort of sounded like “you suck and we don't respect your qualifications at all” to my ears. Grrr!
When I first read the post, I expected that you'd have teachers in there with librarians and other progressive professions. Had to think about it for a bit before responding, but after some reflection I have to agree with Michelle. I'm not sure it's even evenly split – I'd say that more teachers fall on the “progressive” side of the spectrum as far as beliefs and values and politics go. However, I would say that capital E “Education” and those who administer it are … decidedly NOT progressive, which muddies the waters. And which affects teachers' ability to effect change and be progressive. Teachers start out really idealistic for the most part, and kind of have it beaten out of them over the years. The attitude that you came across for that school library job sounds like administration, not like the teachers themselves. I could be wrong, of course. But just thinking back to Teacher's College, one of the things that I found hard to swallow was just how enthusiastic and idealistic everyone was about the profession. (It was certainly a polar opposite to the negativity of Library School … and you've got librarians up there as “progressive”).
Hmmm. Not really many coherent thoughts in there, I guess I'm still trying to decide about teachers, but my first instinct was to lump them in with the liberal/progressive lot more than the other. Perhaps it's not an either/or situation, but more of a spectrum, in which case I'd concede that teachers may be closer to the middle.
After consideration of the feedback about my (as usual) rather hastily drawn, not-completely-thought-out post, I'm willing to concede that teachers, as a group, are probably closer to the middle than the conservative side overall.
My bias is admittedly partly drawn from recent dealings with people (yes, that was an HR flunky, not a teacher I talked to) representing the administrative point of view which may not always reflect the teacher point of view.
But as you say, even if teachers start out as idealistic, they tend to get it beaten out of them, even compared with librarians. I wonder if teachers are close to journalists (who I called progressive) in that they start out idealistic and ready to change the world but end up as PR lackeys for a corporation so they can get a paycheque that they can live on?
When teachers lose their idealism, they buy into a system that has many problems. Some problems with our current education system in my view: Using filtering software. Promoting conformity. Promoting competition between students as well as between schools/communities. Not promoting a wider range of reading outside of the relatively safe and easy curriculum materials.
I won't dare give you my personal theory of *why* many people go into teaching in the first place as that would *really* make you angry!