Cory Clark Warrior to Worriers

can you summarize this in a way that would be relevant for Sander van der Linden of Cambridge University? 

https://youtu.be/-liIioemFdQ?si=0nsxn7-MMMsf_0-0

The core argument of Cory Clark’s talk is that the recent rise of women in academia and broader society is a significant and underappreciated driver of observable cultural shifts in Western institutions—particularly those relating to values such as equity, harm avoidance, and social ostracism. Clark’s evolutionary-psychological framework is that, on average, women and men have distinct risk tolerances, social strategies, and group preferences, and the aggregation of female-typical values is now measurably impacting academic and social norms.

### Main Points Relevant for Sander van der Linden

- **Institutional Change and Value Shifts**: The increase in female participation and dominance in academia (now the majority in both PhDs and professorships in the US and much of the West) correlates with movement toward institutional preferences for equity (over merit-based hierarchies), harm avoidance, and conflict resolution via ostracism, rather than meritocratic rehabilitation[1].

- **Empirical Support and Survey Data**:

  - Multiple surveys show women in academic contexts are, on average, more supportive of policies and norms prioritizing psychological safety, equity quotas, and harm avoidance, and less supportive of absolute academic freedom compared to male colleagues or students[1].

  - Women tend to support ostracism ("canceling") as a response to perceived harm, while men are more likely to embrace competitive hierarchies where merit and competence are more heavily weighted and redemption is possible after moral or social transgressions[1].

- **Meritocracy, Free Speech, and Social Justice**:

  - Clark details examples like the removal of standardized testing, grade inflation, increased implementation of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies, trigger warnings, safe spaces, and anonymous reporting systems as predictable results of the aforementioned value shift[1].

  - Survey data presented aligns with this narrative: men are generally more opposed to disinvitations and censorship for controversial speakers, while women give greater priority to protecting students from offensive or harmful content—even when this comes into tension with free inquiry[1].

- **Wider Societal Consequences**:

  - The talk speculates the rise of women may help explain increased support for LGBTQ+ rights, animal welfare, mental health attention, and less tolerance for criminal but competent male leaders[1].

  - Clark’s broader point is not to "blame" women, but to highlight that evolutionary and socialized sex differences can—and now do—influence which norms and policies come to predominate as group demographics shift.

- **Limitations and Caveats**:

  - Clark acknowledges the causality is complex (e.g., K-12 teaching and nursing have always been female-dominated but have not always experienced similar cultural changes).

  - She also concedes the rise of these patterns is intertwined with other societal variables, including age, political ideology, and possibly the nature of social media[1].

### Why This Matters for Sander van der Linden

Given Sander van der Linden's focus on misinformation, social influence, and science communication, Clark’s thesis is relevant in that it directly addresses how changing group compositions and value systems shape which types of speech, inquiry, and dissent are culturally acceptable in science and public life[1]. It poses testable hypotheses about the psychological and sociological basis for institutional norms—especially regarding tolerance for dissent, strategies for managing group conflict, and the boundary conditions of "harm" in the scientific and educational domain.

The talk’s nuance is that it challenges standard single-factor explanations (such as "polarization" or "technology") and instead proposes that fundamental demographic and social-psychological shifts within influential institutions are a major, if under-recognized, part of the story. This is directly in dialogue with broader debates about academic freedom, the limits of debate, cultural change, and the nature of group identity and moral panic—themes that resonate both in van der Linden’s research and contemporary discourse.

Clark ultimately suggests continued empirical investigation, advocating for evaluations of which policies and cultural norms most effectively advance science, knowledge sharing, and social progress[1].

Citaties:

[1] From Worriers to Warriors: The Rise of Women in Science and Society - Cory Clark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-liIioemFdQ