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

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.