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A Science Confidence Gap: Education, Trust in Scientific Methods, and Trust in Scientific Institutions in the United States, 2014

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Science under Siege

Part of the book series: Cultural Sociology ((CULTSOC))

Abstract

Following up on suggestions that the cultural authority of science is multifaceted, this chapter demonstrates the existence of a science confidence gap: some people place great trust in scientific methods and principles, but simultaneously distrust scientific institutions. This science confidence gap proves largest among the less educated and this chapter investigates explanations for this difference with the more educated. Whereas hypotheses deduced from reflexive-modernization theory do not pass the test, those derived from theorizing on the role of anomie do. The less educated are more anomic (they have more modernity-induced cultural discontents), which underlies their distrust in scientific institutions, yet fuels their trust in scientific methods and principles. This explains why the science confidence gap is most pronounced among the less educated.

This chapter has been published previously in Public Understanding of Science (2017, 26 (6): 704–20), even though especially the opening and concluding sections have been slightly adapted to better fit the logic and argument of this book. Permission to reprint it is gratefully acknowledged.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Peter Achterberg

  2. Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Willem de Koster & Jeroen van der Waal

Authors
  1. Peter Achterberg
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  2. Willem de Koster
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  3. Jeroen van der Waal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Achterberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Sociological Research, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Dick Houtman

  2. Institute for Media Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Stef Aupers

  3. Center for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Rudi Laermans

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Achterberg, P., de Koster, W., van der Waal, J. (2021). A Science Confidence Gap: Education, Trust in Scientific Methods, and Trust in Scientific Institutions in the United States, 2014. In: Houtman, D., Aupers, S., Laermans, R. (eds) Science under Siege. Cultural Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69649-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69649-8_9

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