The Political Context of Science in the United States: Public Acceptance of Evidence-Based Policy and Science Funding
The Political Context of Science in the United States: Public Acceptance of Evidence-Based Policy and Science Funding
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DOI：
10.1093/sf/sov040
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发表时间：
2015-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Gauchat, Gordon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gauchat, Gordon
近年来，美国的专业科学组织，包括国家研究委员会、国家卫生研究院和国家科学基金会，都对政策影响力的减弱、政府资金的减少和科学日益政治化表示担忧。在这样的背景下，本研究提出了一些理论问题。首先，当代美国科学权威的政治背景是什么？更具体地说，在当前两极分化的环境中，我们如何才能最好地理解政治意识形态和公众对科学的认知之间的联系？利用美国国家科学基金会《公众对科学技术的态度和理解调查》(2006-2012)的数据，这项研究发现，美国公众在支持科学与国家的交叉方面存在文化和政治上的分歧。各种政治和文化两极分化模式都受到了考验。总体而言，对科学文化权威的意识形态挑战不能归结为左右翼政治两极分化或保守的宗教信仰。相反，对政治右翼的怀疑是多方面的，涉及不同的思维模式，以及对科学与国家之间的制度联系的担忧。
In recent years, professional science organizations in the United States, including the National Research Council, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation, have expressed concern about waning policy influence, declining government funding, and the growing politicization of science. Given this background, a number of theoretical questions motivate this study. First, what is the political context of scientific authority in the contemporary United States? More specifically, how can we best understand the association between political ideology and public perceptions of science in the current polarized environment? Using data from the National Science Foundation's Survey of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology (2006-2012), this study finds that the American public is culturally and politically divided in its support for the intersection of science and the state. Various models of political and cultural polarization are tested. Overall, ideological challenges to the cultural authority of science cannot be reduced to left-right political polarization or to conservative religious beliefs. Instead, skepticism on the political right is multifold, involving distinct modes of thought and concerns about the institutional ties between science and the state.