EPISTEMOLOŠKO I POLITIČKO NEPOVERENJE U NAUKU: ANTROPOLOŠKA ANALIZA IZVORA I DRUŠTVENIH POSLEDICA
Epistemological and political distrust in science: anthropological analysis of sources and social consequences

Summary/Abstract: The growing and widespread distrust in science and experts has become particularly visible during the 2019 pandemic of coronavirus. The view of science as a practice of mutually opposing and competing theories places the “ordinary people” in a position of epistemological uncertainty, and this vulnerable position is used by populism to deepen not only the gap between the “ordinary people” and “elite”, but also the distrust of science and experts. In this paper, I develop a typology of distrust in science, identifying epistemological distrust, wich is conditioned by an understanding of the structure of science as a “graveyard of scientific theories”, and political distrust, which represents a reaction to the relation between science and politics. I identify these two types as sources of distrust in science, on the basis of which such distrust is interpreted as a response to the instability of authority and as being shaped through cultural models of risk, crisis, and responsibility. This leads to an understanding of distrust in science as a meaningful social response rather than an expression of irrationality and lack of education.

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