Original scientific paper
HOW DO CROATIAN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL ELITE PERCEIVE SCIENCE?
Katarina Prpić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7665-1596
; Institute for Social Research, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The perceptions of science by the Croatian public and the political
elite are a combination of scientific-technological optimism, the
exemption of science from social responsibility, the skepticism regarding the speed of changes that science brings into people’s lives,
and a mixture of cognitive realism and optimism, and the reservations
towards the cognitive possibilities of science. Also, the perceptions of
science by the public and by the elite differ significantly. The public
perceptions link modernism and traditionalism, confidence and a lack
of it in the socially responsible role of science (and technology).
Politicians nurture three different views of science. The first view
implies both the beneficial and the neutral social role of science. The
second view implies the reservations of the elite regarding the humanistic social role of science and its cognitive power, while the third way links the cognitive limitations of science and the skepticism regarding the way in which it changes the traditional way of life. The
perception of science by the public depends on the social composition,
while the politicians’ views are significantly influenced by their
political worldview and orientations and party allegiance.
Keywords
science; public; political elite; public and politicians’ perceptions of science
Hrčak ID:
20148
URI
Publication date:
20.6.2007.
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