Love the Science, Hate the Scientists: Conservative Identity Protects Belief in Science and Undermines Trust in Scientists

Abstract

The decline in trust in the scientific community in the United States among political conservatives has been well established. But this observation is complicated by remarkably positive and stable attitudes toward scientific research itself. What explains the persistence of positive belief in science in the midst of such dramatic change? By leveraging research on the performativity of conservative identity, we argue that conservative scientific institutions have manufactured a scientific cultural repertoire that enables participation in this highly valued epistemological space while undermining scientific authority perceived as politically biased. We test our hypothesized link between conservative identity and scientific perceptions using panel data from the General Social Survey. We find that those with stable conservative identities hold more positive attitudes toward scientific research while simultaneously holding more negative attitudes towards the scientific community compared to those who switch to and from conservative political identities. These findings support a theory of a conservative scientific repertoire that is learned over time and that helps orient political conservatives in scientific debates that have political repercussions. Implications of these findings are discussed for researchers interested in the cultural differentiation of scientific authority and for stakeholders in scientific communication and its public policy.

Who Might Buy a Gun? Results from the Guns in American Life Survey

“…The growing political divide over (a) confidence in, and support for funding of, science (Drummond and Fischhoff 2017; Gauchat 2012), (b) the role of scientists in shaping public policy (Evans 2010), (c) public health research (Goldberg 2012; Gostin 2018), (d) environmental science (Evans and Feng 2013; Gauchat, O'Brein, and Mirosa 2017; McCright 2016; O'Brien 2013), and other scientific domains has been widely documented. In some studies, self‐rated political ideology and political party identification are among the strongest predictors of science attitudes, and trend studies consistently show that Republicans and conservatives –once stalwart supporters of science—are now much more skeptical of scientific approaches and findings than Democrats and liberals (Gauchat 2012; Mann and Schleifer 2020). These developments suggest the following hypothesis:…”

Polarized Scientists? Exploring Political Differences about Religion and Science among U.S. Biologists and Physicists1

“…Specifically, this study contributes to our understanding of the extent to which scientists’ attitudes, beliefs, and identities around science and religion hold political meaning, which aspects of the science‐religion interface hold the most political currency (e.g., atheism, evolution), as well as the politicized nature of the conflict paradigm. As religious and political divides regarding science increasingly center on scientists (Evans 2013; Mann and Schleifer 2019) and scientists’ presence in the political sphere continues to grow (Fisher 2018; MacKendrick 2017; Yong 2017a), examining the science‐religion interface as a site of politicization affords a path to disentangle broader dynamics of polarization and illuminate specific issues and attitudes that bear critical implications on reinforcing symbolic boundaries in the United States. Future work ought to examine this site across other dimensions of variation among scientists, such as race, gender, and immigrant status at an individual level (see Wilde and Glassman 2016), in addition to national, discipline, and institutional contexts at the group level (see Ecklund et al 2019).…”

“…The process manifests when political commitments, rather than ontological or metaphysical convictions, shape attitudes about science, religion, and the interface between them. Prior research reveals this process from the perspective of the general public, as evidenced by declining levels of trust not only in science (Gauchat 2012), but also scientists (Evans 2013; Mann and Schleifer 2019), particularly among political conservatives and conservative Protestants. However, here we turn our attention to the scientists themselves.…”

Party Polarization and Trust in Science: What about Democrats?

“…More recent studies have extended these findings in important ways (Evans 2013;Mann and Schleifer 2020;O'Brien and Noy 2020;Sherkat 2017). For example, using structural equation models, Sherkat (2017) demonstrated why trust in science has declined among ideological conservatives and Republicans.…”