Post by ignorantianescia on Apr 14, 2012 10:23:42 GMT
This study explores time trends in public trust in science in the United States from 1974 to 2010. More precisely, I test Mooney’s (2005) claim that conservatives in the United States have become increasingly distrustful of science. Using data from the 1974 to 2010 General Social Survey, I examine group differences in trust in science and group-specific change in these attitudes over time. Results show that group differences in trust in science are largely stable over the period, except for respondents identifying as conservative. Conservatives began the period with the highest trust in science, relative to liberals and moderates, and ended the period with the lowest. The patterns for science are also unique when compared to public trust in other secular institutions. Results show enduring differences in trust in science by social class, ethnicity, gender, church attendance, and region. I explore the implications of these findings, specifically, the potential for political divisions to emerge over the cultural authority of science and the social role of experts in the formation of public policy.
www.eenews.net/assets/2012/03/28/document_cw_01.pdf
A commenter on World Magazine, a physicist, thinks it has to do with ideological bunk science:
As a member of the scientific community, and a conservative Christian, perhaps I can add some insight into why churchgoers might be much less trustful of “science” than decades ago. I have all the qualifications usually claimed as proof of credibility: a Ph.D. (in physics), a consistent record of government-funded research for more than a decade, and an extensive list of peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals.
Yet my scientific credentials have been called into question several times. Why? Because, according to the paper, “conservatives are far more likely to doubt scientific theories of origins,” and, “In 2010, only a third of conservatives believed that global warming is occurring.” To be skeptical of these things is, according to the paper, “anti-science.”
In the 1970s, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman became publicly critical of so-called “social sciences.” He called them pseudo-science, bereft of basic honesty and experimental controls, yet having researchers who ostensibly go through the motions of scientific rituals, even wearing lab coats, but without actually doing science.
Yet my scientific credentials have been called into question several times. Why? Because, according to the paper, “conservatives are far more likely to doubt scientific theories of origins,” and, “In 2010, only a third of conservatives believed that global warming is occurring.” To be skeptical of these things is, according to the paper, “anti-science.”
In the 1970s, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman became publicly critical of so-called “social sciences.” He called them pseudo-science, bereft of basic honesty and experimental controls, yet having researchers who ostensibly go through the motions of scientific rituals, even wearing lab coats, but without actually doing science.
online.worldmag.com/2012/04/03/the-virtue-of-questioning-science/
Not sure whether quoting Feynman is doing much good here though, even though there are some ideas falsely pretending to be science.
