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ABSTRACT
Science trust and views of science differ by political and religious orientations. In this study we examine whether political and religious perspectives are also associated with biological science knowledge, science interest, and general science identity. Results show that conservative Protestants have lower biological science knowledge than other religious groups on several specific topics. Party affiliation is associated with vaccine knowledge but not science interest and identity. Adjusting for demographic characteristics explains some political and religious group differences, but not all. We discuss implications regarding attention to potential political and religious framings of science topics in public education efforts.
Acknowledgments
This project was presented at the Society for the Study of Social Problems’ (SSSP) 2017 annual conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Notes
1. Prior research has measured affiliation and ideology using a seven-point scale (e.g., Goren Citation2005). Our survey measure of party affiliation was asked in terms of nominal categories. Our measure of ideology was asked along a five-point scale (i.e., very liberal–very conservative). We did sensitivity analyses for ideology using continuous and categorical measures. To allow for potential nonlinearities and to retain a meaningful “Other” category, we used indicator variables for “liberal,” “conservative,” and “neutral.”
2. Following work by Hout (Citation2017) and Presser and Chaves (Citation2007), we include “religious service attendance” as a focal indicator of religiosity and religious practice broadly defined, in particular among those who identify with a Christian faith in the United States. We also note that when referring to the associations between religion and science, most respondents identified with a Christian faith.