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Rejecting D arwin and Support for Science Funding
Author(s) -
Freeman Patricia K.,
Houston David J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00812.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , variety (cybernetics) , ordered logit , logistic regression , politics , sociology , psychology , political science , positive economics , economics , mathematics , law , philosophy , statistics , linguistics
Objective Examine variables relating to support for science in the U nited S tates to determine whether a rejection of D arwinian evolution is related to support for government funding of science. Methods Ordinal logistic regression using questions from the 2006 G eneral S ocial S urvey. Results A rejection of human evolution is significantly related to support for science even after controlling for a variety of variables. Conclusion Beliefs regarding human evolution have a unique effect on attitudes regarding government support for scientific research that do not merely channel religion and/or politics. Debate today over evolutionary theory revolves around what constitutes good science. Those who reject D arwinian evolution may do so because of the messages critical of scientists and the scientific method. A possible consequence of this controversy is lower support for science.