Nationalism and Attitude Toward Science and Technology: A Cross-National Analysis

• In Event: Democracy Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century: New Evidence from Comparative Survey Research

Abstract

The data from the 7th cycle of the World Values Survey (WVS) will demonstrate that a substantial minority of citizens in the United States and other industrialized countries hold strong nationalistic views. The same data set also indicates that a majority of Americans and citizens of other industrialized countries hold positive views about the benefits of science and technology and only minimal reservations about potential negative consequences from science and technology. There is an inherent tension between the more universalistic nature of science and the more particularistic character of strong nationalism. Using the extensive WVS data set from the last 30 years (but with special emphasis on the results from the 7th cycle in 2016-17), this analysis will seek to understand the role of gender, education, partisanship, ideology, and other relevant factors on the development of these attitudes and the reconciliation of apparently conflicting views. Data from a substantial number of WVS countries has been collected and is ready for analysis, but the data from the 7th cycle of the WVS are still being collected at this time in some countries. We expect to have current data sets from at least 30 countries -- and possibility 40 -- by the end of the summer and in time for inclusion in this analysis.

Authors

• Jon D. Miller, University of Michigan

• Ronald Franklin Inglehart, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

• Logan Woods, University of Michigan

• Jason Kalmbach, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh