Postmodernism, Identity Politics, and Other Political Influences in Political Psychology

Traditionally, social scientists were taught that good research is not only rigorous but is also designed, conducted, and reported in an objective way. The “value-free” ideal incorporated the value of unbiased scholarship (see Proctor, 1991). Most people knew that this was indeed an ideal, and that human beings could not completely suspend their likes and dislikes, loyalties and ideologies when they put on their “researcher” hat. However, when so behatted they were expected to-and, I think, almost all tried to-follow procedures that would at least minimize bias.