Quality of Trust in Science and the Need for Scientific Citizenship
In spite of different contexts, variables as education and scientific knowledge levels play a relevant role.
Based on last decade Eurobarometers on Science and Technology, we further investigate in depth trust in science conceptions in the context of Europe, focusing on the five largest European Union countries by population: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland, in addition to Finland, a Northern European country, particularly interesting due to its scientific knowledge performances.
We highlight the emergence of two different visions: a "salvific" science, capable of making the earth's resources inexhaustible and sorting out any problem; and a “tangible”, secular science, which makes our lives easier, more comfortable and healthier and that overall has a beneficial influence on society. Our findings show that scientific knowledge levels positively impact only tangible science.
Our study shows that what is urgent to detect is not only the level of trust in science per se, but the “quality” of this trust. What emerges is the need to act at two levels: strengthening education and scientific knowledge; fostering a “tangible” vision of science, that allows a mature relationship between science and society, aligned with the concept of scientific citizenship. To this aim, it would also be appropriate to promote non-sensationalistic narratives of science, giving space to the methods, concepts of ongoing progress, uncertainty and self-correction that are inherent in the processes of building scientific knowledge.