Rankings of Occupations 



1947" 1963" 1972 1971 



Physician 1 1 ^ 1 



Scientist 2 2 2 2 



Engineer 7 6 3.5 3 



Minister 4 5 3.5 4 



Architect 5.5 4 6.5 5 



Lawyer 5.5 3 5 6 



Banker 3 7 6.5 7 



Accountant 9 8 8 8 



Businessman 8 9 9 9 



^R W Hodge, f/al. "Occupational Prestige in the United States. XtZi-bi," 

 Amtrtan journal of Sotlolosy, Vol 70 (1964), pp 286-302 



In both 1972 and 1974, scientists held their 

 relative ranking among occupations, second only 

 to physicians, with engineers third. Against 

 1963 ratings, all occupations remained lower in 

 both 1972 and 1974. 



Impact of science and technology 



This part of the survey explored several facets 

 of the impact of science and technology as 

 perceived by the public, including whether the 

 overall impact is more positive than negative; 

 identification of the science and technology 

 activities which the public regards as good or 

 harmful; the extent to which it feels science and 

 technology cause problems; and whether the 

 pace of change induced by science and 

 technology is desirable. Following these 

 questions, the public was asked to assess the 

 adequacy of control that is exercised over science 

 and technology. 



Slightly more than half of those interviewed 

 believed that science and technology do more 

 good than harm. About one-third saw the extent 

 of good and harm as being nearly the same, and 

 only a negligible percentage said "more harm." 

 Changes from 1972 to 1974 were slight. 



Overall, Would You Say That Science and Technology 



Do More Good Than Harm, More Harm Than Good, or 



About The Same Each? 



Response 



More good 



About the same 



More harm 



No opinion 



Those responding "more good than harm" or 

 "about the same" were asked, without prompt- 



ing, to mention some "good thing" they thought 

 science and technology had done, and the 

 responses were then categorized. The results 

 summarized below show that "medical ad- 

 vances" was by far the most frequently men- 

 tioned benefit, followed by "new and improved 

 products" and "space research". 



Benefits from Science and Technology 

 (Cited by group responding "More good than harm") 



Percent 

 ciUng " 

 Response 1971 1974 



Medical advances 54 



New and improved products 10 



Space research 12 



Environment and 



natural resources 6 



Living and working 



conditions 5 



Food and agriculture 4 



Energy 1 



Other 4 



Don 't know 4 



59 



11 



9 



Benefits from Science and Technology 

 (Cited by group responding "About the same") 



Percent 

 citing " 



1974 



48 



15 



9 



6 



5 

 2 

 2 

 6 

 19 



Response 1972 



Medical advances 50 



New and improved products 8 



Space research 9 



Living and working conditions 5 



Environment and 



natural resources 6 



Food and agriculture 3 



Energy ('') 



Other 3 



Don't know 1^ 



1 Multiple responses were accepted. 

 Less than 0,5 percent, 



The group which believed that science and 

 technology do about equal amounts of good and 

 harm was asked, without prompting, to mention 

 "one of the harmful things." These results, 

 summarized below, show that "lack of concern 

 for the environment" was most frequently 

 mentioned as harmful, followed by "develop- 

 ment of military weapons," "space research," 

 and "dangerous drugs and medicines." Almost 

 one-third of this group failed to offer an example 

 of a harmful result from science and technology, 

 whereas less than 20 percent of the same group 

 failed to provide an example of a "good" result. 

 (See the table just above). 



146 



