PART II.— SURVEY DATA ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES 



Part I has pointed out the significant and 

 interesting fact that, at this moment in its 

 history, the research community is deeply 

 concerned about a loss of public confidence in 

 science and technology. There is also a 

 widespread feeling that this loss of public 

 confidence is behind many of the specific 

 problems that the research community finds it 

 is having. Since this issue is so important, it 

 would be valuable to see what other informa- 

 tion can be obtained on the public's attitudes 

 toward science and technology. As it happens, a 

 certain number of public surveys have been 

 taken on this subject. Part II, therefore, will give 

 a summary of their results. 



The National Science Board has already 

 considered this subject to a lesser extent in two 

 previous reports. Both Science Indicators 1972 

 and Science Indicators 1974 contain chapters on 

 "Public Attitudes toward Science and 

 Technology." 



In the following discussion, the Science 

 Indicators results will be considered first, and 

 will serve as a point of comparison with the 

 other studies. Where possible, use will be made 

 of cumulative papers which attempt to sum- 

 marize the surveys that have been taken in this 

 area. None of these summaries is entirely 

 complete and up-to-date, and therefore some 

 papers reporting single surveys will have to be 

 discussed also. 



Some small-scale or tangentially relevant 

 surveys have been omitted, but the present 

 review does cover all the recent and major 

 studies that were available at the time of 

 writing, and should give an accurate picture of 

 the present state of knowledge. For the sake of 

 brevity, and because the attitudes of the 

 American public are the concern of this chapter, 

 only surveys taken in the United States will be 

 considered. 



Since this is a summary, it will not be possible 

 to treat any one study in full detail. A selection 

 will be made to show the kind of questions that 

 have been asked and the distinctions that have 

 been introduced. Emphasis will be placed on 

 those questions that are comparable from one 

 survey to another. There will also be an 

 emphasis on the data that the sources provide 

 rather than on their interpretations and con- 

 clusions. For the materials omitted, and es- 

 pecially for important details of methodology, 

 one must of course refer to the original papers. 



SCIENCE INDICATORS 1972 AND 1974 



The Science Indicators survey was first taken 

 by the Opinion Research Corporation in 1972 

 and virtually the same survey was repeated in 

 1974. There was very little difference between 

 the results of the two studies. In one question, 

 the respondents were asked to rate each of nine 

 professions in terms of the "prestige or general 

 standing that each job has". Scientists ranked 

 second, surpassed only by physicians, in both 

 years. Results from another source 1 showed 

 that this had also been the case in 1947 and 1963. 

 Engineers ranked 3.5 in 1972 and 3 in 1974, but 

 only 7 in 1947 and 6 in 1963. The implication 

 seems to be that scientists have maintained a 

 high standing throughout this period, in com- 

 parison with most other professionals, while 

 engineers have actually gained in relative 

 prestige. 



All the remaining questions had to do with 

 science and technology as such. A sizeable 

 majority (70 percent in 1972 and 75 percent in 

 1974) believed that science and technology have 

 changed life for the better, while a small 



1 R. W. Hodge, et al, "Occupational Prestige in the United 

 States, 1925-63," American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 70, 

 (1964], pp. 282-302. 



82 



CONFIDENCE IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



