The scourge of prosocial censorship
Posted on January 22, 2025 by curryja | 54 Comments
by John Ridgway
How an emergent scientific consensus results from social engineering enabled by prosocial censorship.
A recent research paper published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argued that both self-censorship and the prosocial censorship of colleagues are commonplace within the sciences — and the problem is only getting worse. Some of the figures make for grim reading:
“A recent national survey of US faculty at four-year colleges and universities found the following: 1) 4 to 11% had been disciplined or threatened with discipline for teaching or research; 2) 6 to 36% supported soft punishment (condemnation, investigations) for peers who make controversial claims, with higher support among younger, more left-leaning, and female faculty; 3) 34% had been pressured by peers to avoid controversial research; 4) 25% reported being ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ likely to self-censor in academic publications; and 5) 91% reported being at least somewhat likely to self-censor in publications, meetings, presentations, or on social media.”
The case of Lennart Bengtsson
https://judithcurry.com/2025/01/22/the-scourge-of-prosocial-censorship/#more-31808