Anti-Scientific Americans: The Prevalence, Origins, and Political Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism in the Us

Anti-intellectualism has long been a powerful force in American political life. It has also regularly been the subject of both scholarly and public interest. In Anti-Scientific Americans, Matthew Motta revives Richard Hofstadter’s pioneering insights from the 1960s on the subject and offers new theoretical and data-driven insights into the prevalence, origins, and policy consequences of anti-intellectualism in the US. He begins by conceptualizing anti-intellectualism as the dislike and distrust of scientists, academics, and other experts. He then brings together ＂micro-level＂ survey data from cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys spanning six decades, and aggregated ＂macro-level＂ data from hundreds of opinion polls dating back to the 1940s, to show that anti-intellectualism is both a pervasive and pernicious presence in American public life. Motta further examines how anti-intellectualism both shapes and is shaped by Americans’ opposition to the role that experts play in the policymaking process. Methodologically rigorous and empirically powerful, this book concludes by highlighting how we can help reduce the prevalence and impact of anti-intellectualism in American politics and restore Americans’ faith in experts.

Matthew Motta is an Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy, & Management at Boston University’s School of Public Health. He is also affiliate faculty at Harvard University’s Center for Health Communication and a Research Fellow at The Policy Lab (Brown University). Motta received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 2018 and studied the ＂Science of Science Communication＂ as postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Yale Law School. His research has been featured in outlets like The New York Times and Scientific American and is published in academic journals across the social and medical sciences.