Suchergebnisse

This paper explores the suppression of ideas within an academic scholarship by academics, either by self-suppression or because of the efforts of other academics. Legal, moral, and social issues distinguishing freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, and academic freedom are reviewed. How these freedoms and protections can come into tension is then explored by an analysis of denunciation mobs that exercise their legal free speech rights to call for punishing scholars who express ideas they disapprove of and condemn. When successful, these efforts, which constitute legally protected speech, will suppress certain ideas. Real-world examples over the past five years of academics that have been sanctioned or terminated for scholarship targeted by a denunciation mob are then explored.

Offering a behavioral science perspective on how scientific practice becomes compromised, this text provides recommendations for improvement. Broadening the discussion of research integrity beyond replication, publication biases, statistics and methods, it addresses the full complexity of the issue and serves academics and policy makers who are concerned with the reliability and validity of scientific findings across the social sciences.