Table of Contents

So to Speak podcast: ‘The Grievance Studies Affair’

James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian, collaborators in the "Grievance Studies Affair."

Last fall, three writers and scholars announced they had submitted 20 fake papers to academic journals to test whether — as they suspected — certain fields of study lacked scientific and academic rigor.

Of the 20 papers they submitted before revealing their hoax, seven were accepted, four published, seven were “still in play,” and six were retired. The result is what’s become known as the “Grievance Studies Affair.” 

But what does their experiment prove, exactly?

Does it prove that what they call “Grievance Studies” are so consumed by orthodoxy and intolerant of dissent that academic rigor is compromised in order to reach conclusions that satisfy scholars’ biases?

Or, as one critic put it, was it “a hollow exercise in mean-spirited mockery” that didn’t really prove anything?

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we put these questions directly to Jim Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian, who authored the controversial papers.

Show notes:

You can subscribe and listen to So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher, or download episodes directly from SoundCloud

Stay up to date with So to Speak on the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages, and subscribe to the show’s newsletter at sotospeakpodcast.com.

Have questions or ideas for future shows? Email us at sotospeak@thefire.org.

Recent Articles

FIRE’s award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.

Share