Anthropology
Survey of major theoretical trends since the 1960's. Topics include: political economy and Marxism; evolution, history, and anthropology; symbolic anthropology; development studies; gender studies; colonialism and nationalism;…
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University of California-Santa Barbara
University of California-Santa Barbara's course descriptions average 67.2 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so University of California-Santa Barbara reads 0.3 points further right.
Liberal (100)center (50)Conservative (0)
Where its courses fall
6%Far left92–100
40%Left75–91
39%Center-left59–74
8%Center42–58
<1%Center-right26–41
3%Right9–25
3%Far right0–8
Subject places what a course studies, not the side it takes. A course on slavery or the Holocaust lands far right and a course on Marx or the Soviet Union lands far left, whether the course praises, criticizes or simply describes it.
Underlined: words the model quoted from the description when we asked it, after scoring, to explain its score.
Furthest-left subjects
Ethnic & African American Studies
A theoretical explication and critique of the diverse Marxian analyses developed in Africa and the African Diaspora from the early 20th century. The course traces and analyzes the divergences of Black Marxisms from Western Marxism.
Ethnic & African American Studies
An interdisciplinary examination of Black slavery as both a historical event and an enduring condition. The course highlights the foundational role of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade in the making of European modernity, the…
Furthest-right subjects
Ethnic & African American Studies
Examines the legal dimensions of white supremacy in American public law after the Civil War. The course reviews commonly recurring rules and principles about segregation and racial subordination in American society before the 1960's.
Ethnic & African American Studies
Influence/experience of Africans/African-Americans in United States history. Origins and developments of slavery and racism in British colonies.
Ethnic & African American Studies
Racism in American History. This course will examine racism as a major ideological force in defining American society from the colonial era to the 1980s. Major focus will be on the changing nature of racism as an ideology as well as the…
Why this number, in plain words
Political lean of course descriptions. Average Framing score (0 = far right, 50 = center, 100 = far left) of the scored courses in the group.
50 is the survey-anchored center of US adults on each issue (the "moderate" place of the ANES/GSS/PRRI seven-label ruler), not the cohort midpoint; scores above 50 read leftward, below 50 rightward.
Counted: courses with a Framing score (categories L/R/B/C). The likely range (95% interval) is 66.0 to 68.4; a comparison whose range overlaps this one is not a reliable difference.
- Most course descriptions carry no political lean at all and are not in this average; the "share described from the left" view counts them.
- Readings are of catalog description text, not of teaching, syllabi or individual professors.
University of California-Santa Barbara by department (share of courses described from the left)
| Department | Left-framed share | Courses | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's & Gender Studies | 20.8% | 53 | view |
| Ethnic & African American Studies | 17.0% | 324 | view |
| Sociology | 11.3% | 141 | view |
| English & Comparative Literature | 8.2% | 403 | view |
| Anthropology | 5.5% | 164 | view |
| History | 4.2% | 402 | view |
| Political Science | 3.9% | 127 | view |
| Art & Art History | 2.3% | 257 | view |
| Religious Studies | 2.0% | 354 | view |
| Economics | 0% | 180 | view |
| Philosophy | 0% | 94 | view |
| Psychology | 0% | 148 | view |
Lean (mean Framing score) is not published per department within a school; only the left-framed share is. Department rows carry no interval.
Details: exact rows, definitions and method
| Name | Metric | Value | 95% interval | n | scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California-Santa Barbara | mean_bias_score | 67.2 | 66.0 – 68.4 | 2,647 | 160 |
| All 100 schools | mean_bias_score | 67.5 | 67.4 – 67.7 | 124,290 | 10,124 |
- Formula
- SUM(bias_score) / COUNT(bias_score)
- Interval
- normal approximation: mean +/- 1.96 * sd / sqrt(n), sample sd (n-1); undefined when n < 2
- Model / prompt / snapshot
- gpt-5.6-sol · r12 (2026-10-16-le49-r12) · 6df50b10
- Metric caveats
- Scored courses only (L/R/B/C); N and I carry no score and are excluded, so n here is smaller than the group's course count. Scores are model readings of catalog description text against a fixed anchored definition, not teaching or syllabi. The interval covers sampling noise in the mean only; it does not represent model reading error. Every value carries a `method` label: exact_rows or histogram_midpoint.
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