grouped with ministers, lawyers, and archi- 

 tects. Comparison with previous surveys in 1947 

 and 1<563 indicates a decline in ratings for all 



professions, although scientists maintained 

 their relatively high position and engineers ad- 

 vanced in relative prestige. 



Choose the Statement That Best Gives Your Own Personal Opinion of the Prestige or General 



Standing That Each Job Has. 



1972 Rahiigs 



(percents) Total icorc' 



Below 



Oaui'ahoii Excellent Good Average average Poor ;P72 19ti3- 1947- 



1. Physician 66 2b 5 1 90 93 «3 



2. Scientist 59 27 8 1 1 86 92 89 



3. Minister 44 3b 15 2 1 83 87 87 



4. Engineer 40 43 13 1 83 86 84 



5. Lawyer 44 36 14 2 1 82 89 86 



6. Architect 40 42 12 1 81 88 86 



7. Banker 33 47 17 1 81 85 88 



8. Accountant 29 46 19 1 1 78 81 81 



9. Businessman 20 52 24 1 1 77 80 82 



' Average of the ratings, where excellent = 100, good = 80, average = 60, below average = 40, and poor = 20 



' Scores from previous studies, which are comparable to present survey (see R W Hodge, P M Siegel, and P H Rossi. •Occupational 

 Prestige in the United States, 1925-63 " Amenian journal of Soiwiogv. Volume LXX, No 3, November 1064, pp 286-302) 



Impacts of Science and Technology 



The public assessed several aspects of the 

 impacts of science and technology — the net 

 balance of beneficial and harmful consequences, 

 the relative extent of the problems created, and 

 the pace of change produced by science and tech- 

 nology — and appraised the adequacy of society's 

 control over science and technology. 



Fifty-four percent of those responding felt 

 that science and technology do more good than 

 harm, as compared with 31 percent who felt that 

 the effects were about equally beneficial and 

 harmful, and 4 percent who believed the impacts 

 to be more harmful than good. 



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 



More harm .... 

 About the same 

 No opinion 



Those whose response was either that sci- 

 ence and technology did "more good than harm" 

 or "both good and harm" were asked to indicate 



"one of the good things." Similarly, those 

 responding "more harm than good" were asked 

 to identify "one of the harmful things." These 

 results are summarized below. 



Beneficial Contributions of Science and Technology 

 (Cited by Group Responding "More Good than Harm") 



Respomei Percent 

 Improvements in medicine/medical 



research 54 



Space research/moon trip 12 



Atomic research/nuclear science 5 



Efforts to improve the environment ... 5 



Development of TV, computers, etc. ... 3 



Improved methods of transportation ... 3 



Agriculture 2 



Food research/processing 2 



Don't know 4 



Beneficial Contributions of Science and Technology 

 (Cited by Group Responding "Both Good and Harm") 



Responses Percent 

 Improvements in medicine/medical 



research 50 



Space research/moon trip 9 



Efforts to improve the environment ... 5 



Improved working/living conditions .... 5 



Development of TV, computers, etc. ... 3 



Improved methods of transportation ... 2 



Food research/processing 2 



Don't know 17 



97 



