Abstract
With research on the growing conservative distrust in science in the United States steadily increasing, it is especially important to understand the reasoning behind said shift. By examining various positions offered among current research, such as the cultural ascendency thesis, the alienation thesis, the politicization thesis and the anti-reflexivity thesis, this paper aims to help understand conservatives’ growing distrust in science. All the while keeping in mind the possibility of a potential liberal bias in science. After thorough investigation within this paper, it seems that it is not all science, but specifically impact rather than production science that conservatives tend to distrust due to its outcomes possibly running counter to conservative ideology. While this paper concludes that a liberal bias in science discouraging conservatives from trusting scientists cannot be systematically supported, the existence of biases generally influencing individuals of all political orientations’ trust in science is not unfathomable.