public science in modern times
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Public Science in Modern Times: The Social Context for Journalism & Communication
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Matthew C. NisbetNortheastern University
Science Literacy and Educational Disparities
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More Media Choices – Less Attention to News
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Popular Science + Social Disparities = Knowledge Gaps
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Science Literacy and Identity Protective Cognition
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Dan Kahan
Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012). The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature Climate Change, 2(10), 732-735.
Political Polarization and Gridlock
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From Keith Poole’s Vote View blog
Sputnik – Apollo
NEPAGH BUSH
Geographic Sorting by Partisanship and Ideology
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Rapid Transformation of News & Political Discourse
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Politicizing Perceptions of Ebola
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Nisbet, M.C. & Markowitz, E. (2016, March). Americans’ Attitudes About Science and Technology: The Social Context For Public Communication. AAAS Leshner Leadership Institute. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Selective Attention to Science and Society Debates
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Nisbet, M.C. & Markowitz, E. (2015). Expertise in an Age of Polarization: Evaluating Scientists’ Political Awareness and Communication Behaviors. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 658, 136-154..
Wicked Problems in a Runaway World
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o Wicked problems like climate change, pandemics, and social
inequality span national borders and class distinctions, disrupting entire economies, political systems, and ways of life.
o They are rooted in our own success as a modern society, tangled up with industrialization, free trade, scientific advances, global communications, and higher standards of living. They have no single cause and no clear solution. Can only do better or worse at managing over time.
o Yet our inability to effectively manage these transcendent threats has created new sources of public doubt and anxiety, eroding trust in government and expert authority, creating a deep sense of social malaise.
Nisbet, M.C. (2014). Disruptive Ideas: Public Intellectuals and their Arguments for Action on Climate Change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change, 5, 809–823..
Political Control in an Age of Post-Normal Science
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o Controversies over climate change, food biotech, and nuclear
energy are debates over political control.
o Appeals to scientific authority obscure competing views of nature, government, the market, justice, progress, autonomy and community.
o Which values, interpretations, and worldviews matter and who gets to decide?
o Focusing on the translation of scientific evidence often fuels polarization, since such evidence is often sufficiently tentative enough to indefinitely support the values-based arguments of competing sides.
Nisbet, M.C. (2014). Engaging in Science Policy Controversies: Insights from the U.S. Debate Over Climate Change. Handbook of the Public Communication of Science and Technology, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge (pp. 173-185).
Brexit: Globalization, Resentment and Distrust
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Partisan Sorting, Social Insecurity & Climate Beliefs
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Optimists or Pessimists?American Views on Science and Society
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Scientists Enjoy Strong Communication Capital
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Climate Scientists & Federal Agencies Most Trusted
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