ACADEMICS & POPULIST POLITICAL FIGURES: Who and Why Certain American Professors Support the Populist Appeal of Trump

An understudied area in both political sociology and higher education is conservative professors who support populist political leaders. There is considerable research interest today on populist moments and their leadership. But less attention has been given to professors within the academy who support them. Because of the attacks by populist leaders on expert knowledge and the autonomy of the universities, it is striking that some professors nonetheless support such causes. This paper will report some results on 103 American professors who function as public intellectuals in support of the Trump presidency. It will identify where they are located within the American field of higher education and examine the rationales they use to support Trump. How do they justify their political outlook? The paper will draw inspiration from Bourdieu’s field analysis of politics in higher education.