Those who embrace free market economics are more likely to reject mainstream scientific views regarding climate change and vaccinations.
“We have shown that people’s political orientation and worldview can present strong obstacles to acceptance of scientific evidence, albeit to widely differing extents among the issues examined,” Stephan Lewandowsky of the University of Bristol and his colleagues wrote in their study.
Previous research conducted by Lewandowsky discovered that endorsement of free markets predicted the rejection of climate science and other established scientific facts, such as that HIV causes AIDS or that tobacco smoking causes lung cancer.
The latest research, published October 2 in PLoS One, found both conservatism and a free market worldview were powerful predictors of the rejection of climate change. A free market worldview also predicted a rejection of vaccinations. Though conservatism and a free market worldview are typically allied, conservatism was not a predictor of the rejection of vaccinations. The disparity between conservatism and free-market economics on this issue could be the result of libertarians, a group that endorses free markets but who are ideologically distinct from conservatives.
“The different polarity of those associations is consonant with the notion that libertarians object to the government intrusion arising from mandatory vaccination programs, whereas people low on conservatism — who, by implication, are liberal or progressive — may oppose immunization because they distrust pharmaceutical companies,” Lewandowsky and his colleagues wrote.
Neither people’s worldviews nor their level of conservatism were associated with opposition to genetically modified foods — a surprising result, because the rejection of genetically modified foods is often associated with the political left. Conventional wisdom suggests those who score low on conservatism should be the most likely to reject genetically modified foods. That was not the case.
“This finding is consonant with the fact that among liberals trust in science has remained high and stable since the 1970s,” Lewandowsky and his colleagues explained. “Our data suggest that this high level of trust in science among liberals extended to GM foods.”
Like his previous research, Lewandowsky found those who rejected climate change, vaccinations and genetically modified foods were more accepting of conspiracy theories. Conspiratorial thinking, also known as conspiracist ideation, emerged as a strong predictor of the rejection of all three scientific issues.