Effects of politicization on the practice of science.

Since many of the problems societies face today are complex and, by origin, are scientific (e.g., climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.), scientific evidence is imperative in many policymaking processes to get a deeper understanding of these issues and possible risks and to derive and justify certain policy measures. The close intertwining of science and politics, however, can have both positive (e.g., growing recognition or reputation, fact-based decision making) and negative consequences (e.g., growing science skepticism, expertocracy, and misuse of scientific credibility to pursue political agendas) for science. The first aim of our paper is to sharpen the theoretical conceptualization of the phenomenon of politicization, and the second aim is to disentangle different drivers (politics and political actors, media and journalists, science and scientists) that may fuel a politicization of science. Based on this, possible effects of politicization for individual scientists and for science as a whole and, thus, for the practice of science are discussed.

A desire for authoritative science? How citizens' informational needs and epistemic beliefs shaped their views of science, news, and policymaking in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic created a situation in which virological and epidemiological science became highly politically relevant but was uncertain and fragmented. This raises the question as to how science could inform policymaking and public debate on societal crisis management. Based on an online survey of Germans (N = 1513) representative for age, gender, education, and place of residence, we investigate citizens' prescriptive views of the relationships between science, policymaking, and the media. Views differ depending on their informational needs and epistemic beliefs. People with a need for definite information and a view of scientific knowledge as static wanted scientists to dominate policymaking and journalists to deliver definite information about the coronavirus. People with an informational need to construct their own opinions wanted journalists to question policy and scientific advice. Furthermore, they rejected the idea of scientists dominating policymaking. Results are discussed with reference to theories of science and democracy.