This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Spousal hires are a little to nothing burger for me when it comes to “fairness.” They’re infrequent relative to hiring preferences based on sex and race, which are ominipresent.
The hired spouse will tend to be female, and especially in STEM, the affirmative action benefit extended to the female spousal hire will generally lie within the grace usually afforded toward women. The racial preferences extended toward non-Asian minorities tend to be much larger.
It’s also funny when a cursory web search reveals a given female spousal hire was originally a young professor, graduate student, or even undergraduate who played her cards right at the finish line, e.g., a former advisee, lab member, or junior professor who went with her de facto boss. Academia is hardly safe from hypergamy.
In CS and Maths, at least, I know of more cases of male spousal hires, chiefly because there would have to be extreme hypergamy involved for the spouse of a man who got a permanent position on his own merit to not qualify on (her merit plus AA). (That being said, in the majority of those cases I actually do get the sense that the woman is the more prolific one. Open question to what extent this is intrinsic competence and to what extent being a spousal hire withered the man's productive spirit. I have not tracked any of the couples' outputs since before they got hired.)
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link