I think it's an extension of the cultural idea that the hard sciences are more important than the soft sciences, which itself is because hard sciences are more

I think it's an extension of the cultural idea that the hard sciences are more important than the soft sciences, which itself is because hard sciences are more empirical and we culturally value what we can measure more than what we can't. FWIW, it's a broad enough problem that it has its own term - STEMlord.