Interrupting the Trump Administration's Contempt for Scientific Expertise

• In Event: Advocating for Science in Contemporary States of Authoritarianism

Abstract

Contempt for science in the Trump administration is well known (e.g., Michael Lewis's "The Fifth Risk"), especially in the area of environmental regulation. The question is how best to interrupt this trend and regenerate respect for expertise. For solutions, I draw generally on Collins & Evans ("Why Democracies Need Science"), and specifically on two chapters in a new collection of essays entitled THE THIRD WAVE IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES (Palgrave, forthcoming), including (i) Martin Weinel's methodology to identify counterfeit scientific controversies in South Africa, and (ii) Darrin Durant's study of how expertise was ignored due to politics in the 2016 failure of the Australian electrical grid. I argue that there is a parallel role in the US for STS in highlighting counterfeit controversies and, in a practical effort reflecting Third Wave theory, setting standards for expertise in policy settings. In a sense, this is a re-generative effort to return to the respect for expertise that was evident in the Obama administration (for example, the Obama administration's committee of scientists who were to set standards to ensure reliable forensic science in legal settings was disbanded by the Trump administration).

Author

• David Caudill, Villanova University