Economic Security and Manufacturing Output: A Structural Driver of Global Trust in Science

• In Event: Science, Knowledge & Technology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: Trust, Mistrust, and Distrust

Abstract

This study challenges the conventional view that East Asian nations, such as Japan and Taiwan, exhibit lower trust in science compared to Western countries. While previous research relied on cross-sectional data, this study introduces a deindustrialization perspective, arguing that manufacturing output—rather than industrial employment, is the primary structural indicator of the economic security required to sustain scientific trust.

Using World Values Survey data (2010–2022), the researcher compares North America, Western Europe, and East Asia to demonstrate that declining manufacturing output heightens economic insecurity. This insecurity intensifies political polarization and fuels skepticism toward scientific authority. Conversely, societies that maintain high manufacturing output exhibit more stable levels of trust in science, even when controlling for individual socioeconomic and political factors.

Notably, the findings reveal that trust in science in Japan and Taiwan has remained stable and is comparable to China’s levels once economic structures are considered. This suggests that prior claims of "low trust" in these regions may have incorrectly conflated general institutional distrust with the specific economic consequences of deindustrialization. By highlighting manufacturing output as a key structural condition, the study demonstrates how economic security mediates the link between political polarization and scientific trust, providing a robust framework that bridges political economy with science attitudes

Author

• Shih-Hao Lin, Virginia Tech