In class, I mentioned Fred Stutzman’s Facebook study about the self-reported political orientation of the UNC campus. Fred will be talking about that and more tomorrow Friday September 30 at noon o’clock in 208 Manning Hall.
One new observation from Fred: 85% of incoming Freshmen had a facebook account on day one of class.
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These findings are really interesting. I wonder, though, what definitions students were using for “liberal” and “conservative.” Since the results represent students’ impressions, one student’s understanding of “liberal” may be different from another student’s. At 18 I wasn’t all that sure where I fell on the political spectrum (at 25 I’m not much more certain). Also, so much changes when you’re in college, as you’re exposed to new ideas and viewpoints. I doubt political orientation remains static throughout the experience. I think this should be taken into consideration when viewing the results.
Comment by robin — October 3, 2005 @ 4:57 pm
A lot of these concerns are addressed in NCSU’s response to Fred’s research. My favorite quote: Most of the people who list themselves as moderate are, more honestly, apathetic. Some are perhaps liberals who think they are conservatives because of the way they were raised.”
Comment by robin — October 3, 2005 @ 5:08 pm