Anti-scientific Americans

• Verfasst von: Motta, Matt [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Anti-scientific Americans
• Titelzusatz: the prevalence, origins, and political consequences of anti-intellectualism in the US
• Verf.angabe: Matt Motta
• Verlagsort: New York, NY
• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• E-Jahr: 2024
• Jahr: [2024]
• Umfang: 1 Online-Ressource
• Gesamttitel/Reihe: Oxford scholarship online : Political Science
• Fussnoten: Includes bibliographical references
• ISBN: 978-0-19-778884-4
• DOI: doi:10.1093/9780197788844.001.0001
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Erscheint auch als : Druck-Ausgabe
• Sach-SW: Society
• Sach-SW: Sociology & anthropology
• K10plus-PPN: 190081417X
• K10plus-PPN:
  Universitätsbibliothek
• Lokale URL UB: Zum Volltext

Abstract

"Anti-Scientific Americans offers new theoretical and data-driven insights into the prevalence, origins, and policy consequences of anti-intellectualism in the U.S. Building on recent theoretical advances, the book begins by conceptualizing anti-intellectualism as the dislike and distrust of scientists, academics, and other experts. It then brings together "micro-level" survey data from cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys spanning six decades, and aggregated "macro-level" data from hundreds of opinion polls dating back to the 1940s, to show that anti-intellectualism is both a pervasive and pernicious presence in American public life. One third of Americans can be thought about as holding anti-intellectual attitudes at any given time, which have become increasingly politicized following the rise of the Tea Party in the early 2010s. Reviving often-overlooked insights from Richard Hofstadter's pioneering (1963) work on the subject, the book also shows that anti-intellectualism both shapes and is shaped by Americans' resentment of the role that experts play in the policymaking process. Correspondingly, anti-intellectualism motivates opposition to evidence-based policies in several areas, including on issues related to climate change, economic policy, and resistance to the advice of public health experts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The book also shows that elected officials respond to increases in public ("macro-level") anti-intellectualism by curtailing experts' influence in the policymaking process. Still, Anti-Scientific Americans concludes on an optimistic note by discussing how what we might learn from this book can help reduce the prevalence and pernicious impact of anti-intellectualism in American political life, and restore Americans' faith in experts"--