Public Attitudes Toward Science and Technology: What Have the Surveys Told Us?

Surveys of public attitudes toward science and technology over the last two decades show a very high level of favorable response. Public confidence in science sagged in the seventies and, though science suffered considerably less than most other major social institutions, a larger tiny minority now view it as harmful than in the fifties. The most striking aspect of public attitudes toward science, and scientists, however, is that they appear to be based on nebulous and distorted conceptions which are dominated by themes of applied technology.