Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T00:26:13.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Scientific Expertise and the Culture War: Public Opinion and the Teaching of Evolution in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2009

Michael B. Berkman  and
Eric Plutzer
Michael B. Berkman
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University. [email protected]
Eric Plutzer
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The teaching of evolution in public schools has been a central element in the nation's “culture wars” since the 1920s and remains a contentious issue today. Content standards for the teaching of biology have been flashpoints for conflict, with well publicized battles occurring in state governments, in federal courts, and in local school districts. We show that a full understanding of evolution politics at the state level must simultaneously account for three important features. First, cultural politics typically includes an important role for public opinion. Second, scientists and their professional organizations have actively sought a monopoly on defining what is and is not science by marginalizing their uncredentialled opponents and by erecting boundaries that buffer science policy from the influence of politics and public opinion. Third, in the American federal system courts rarely settle cultural issues but merely narrow the space within which politics can operate. In accounting for these features, we explain why court victories for science have had only limited impacts and provide a model for understanding other issues—such as sex education, stem cell research, and global warming—in which moral and ideological arguments may conflict with scientific consensus.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 485 - 499
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Apple, Michael W., and Oliver, Anita. 1996. Becoming right: Education and the formation of conservative movements. Teachers College Record 97 (3): 419–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles. 1999. Statehouse bureaucracy: Institutional consistency in a changing environment. In American State and Local Politics, ed. Weber, Ronald and Brace, Paul. New York: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles, and Brace, Paul. 2007. Notes from the laboratories of democracy: State government enactments of market- and state-based health insurance reforms in the 1990s. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 32 (4): 656–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrilleaux, Charles, and Miller, Mark E.. 1988. The political economy of state Medicaid policy. American Political Science Review 82 (4): 1089–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkman, Michael, and Plutzer, Eric. 2005. Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America's School Districts. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Berkman, Michael, Plutzer, Eric, and Pacheco, Julie. 2008. Evolution and creationism in America's classrooms: A national portrait. PLoS Biology 6 (5): e124 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Binder, Amy. 2007. Gathering intelligence on intelligent design: Where did it come from, where is it going, and how should progressives manage it? American Journal of Education 113 (4): 549–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budwig, Gilbert. 1930. Air regulation. Scientific Monthly 31 (3): 241–44.Google Scholar
Camobreco, John F., and Barnello, Michelle A.. 2008. Democratic responsiveness and policy shock: The case of state abortion policy. State Policy and Politics Quarterly 8 (1): 48–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2006. Religious “threat” in contemporary presidential elections. Journal of Politics 68 (1): 104–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coyne, J.A. 2006. Intelligent design: The faith that dare not speak its name. In Intelligent Thought: Science Versus the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. Brockman, J.. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Dennett, Daniel. 2006. The hoax of intelligent design and how it was perpetuated. In Intelligent Thought: Science Versus the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. Brockman, J.. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, Theodosius. 1973. Nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution. American Biology Teacher 35 (3): 125–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, Robert, Wright, Gerald, and McIver, John. 1993. Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Finke, Roger, and Scheitle, Christopher P.. 2005. Accounting for the uncounted: Computing correctives for the 2000 RCMS data. Review of Religious Research 47 (1): 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, Chester E. Jr. 2005. Forward. In The State of State Science Standards, by Paul R Gross, with Ursula Goodenough, Susan Haack, Lawrence S. Lerner, Martha Schwartz, and Richard Schwartz. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew, and Little, Thomas C.. 1997. Poststratification into many categories using hierarchical logistic regression. Survey Methodology 23 (2): 127–35.Google Scholar
Gibson, M. Troy. 2004. Culture wars in state education policy: A look at the relative treatment of evolutionary theory in state science standards. Social Science Quarterly 85 (5): 1129–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giberson, Karl W., and Yerxa, Donald A.. 2002. Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Gieryn, Thomas F. 1983. Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: Strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists. American Sociological Review 48 (6): 781–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gieryn, Thomas F., Bevins, George M., and Zehr, Stephen C.. 1985. Professionalization of American scientists: Public science in the creation/evolution trials. American Sociological Review 50 (3): 392–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginger, Ray. 1958. Six Days or Forever: Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. New York: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Gross, Paul R., with Goodenough, Ursula, Haack, Susan, Lerner, Lawrence S., Schwartz, Martha, and Schwartz, Richard. 2005. The State of State Science Standards. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.Google Scholar
Janofsky, Michael. 2005. “Report Says States Aim Low in Science Classes.” New York Times, December 8.Google Scholar
Jones, Dale E., Doty, Sherry, Grammich, Clifford, Horsch, James E., Houseal, Richard, Lynn, Mac, Marcum, John P., Sanchagrin, Kenneth M., and Taylor, Richard H.. 2002. Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000: An Enumeration by Region, State and County Based on Data Reported for 149 Religious Bodies. Nashville, TN: Glenmary Research Center.Google Scholar
Larson, Edward J., and Witham, Larry. 1997. Scientists are still keeping the faith. Nature 386 (6624): 435–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey. 1997. Religious and political behavior in the United States: The impact of beliefs, affiliations, and commitment from 1980 to 1994. Public Opinion Quarterly 61 (2): 288–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey, and Carmines, Edward. 1997. Cultural conflict in American politics: Religious traditionalism, postmaterialism, and U.S. political behavior. Journal of Politics 59 (3): 751–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leichter, Howard. 1996. State governments and their capacity for health reform. In Health Policy, Federalism, and the American States, ed. Rich, R.F. and White, W.D.. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Lerner, Lawrence. 2000a. Good and bad science in US schools. Nature 407 (6802): 287–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerner, Lawrence. 2000b. Good Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.Google Scholar
Lienesch, M. 2007. In The Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Manna, Paul. 2004. “Management, Control, and the Challenge of Leaving No Child Behind.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, IL, April 15–18.Google Scholar
Manna, Paul, and O'Hara, Diane. 2005. “State Governance and Educational Outcomes in the United States.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, IL, April 7–10.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, and Cook, Fay Lomax. 2002. A democratic polity? Three views of policy responsiveness to public opinion in the United States. American Politics Research 30 (6): 630–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsden, George M. 1980. Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism 1870–1925. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mooney, Christopher. 1999. The politics of morality policy: Symposium editor's Introduction. Policy Studies Journal 27 (4): 675–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, Christopher. 2000. The decline of Federalism and the rise of morality-policy conflict in the United States. Publius 30 (1-2): 171–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mooney, Christopher, and Lee, Mei-Hsien. 2000. The influence of values on consensus and contentious morality policy: U.S. death penalty reform, 1956–82. Journal of Politics 62 (1): 223–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Randy. 2002. Teaching evolution: Do state standards matter? BioScience 52 (4): 378–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences. 2nd ed.http://www.nap.edu/html/creationism/introduction.html. Accessed July 25, 2007.Google Scholar
National Research Council (U.S.). 1996. National Science Education Standards: Observe, Interact, Change, Learn. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Numbers, Ronald L. 2006. The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, expanded ed.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Park, David K., Gelman, Andrew, and Bafumi, Joseph. 2006. State-level opinions from national surveys: Postratification using multilevel logistic regression. In Public Opinion in State Politics, ed. Cohen, Jeffrey E.. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Pew Forum on Religion, and Public Life. 2005. Public Divided on Origins of Life. Poll report. August 30.Google Scholar
Plutzer, Eric, and Berkman, Michael. 2008. Trends: Evolution, creationism and the teaching of human origins in schools. Public Opinion Quarterly 72 (3): 540–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruse, Michael. 2005. The Evolution-Creation Struggle. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, Eugenie C. 1994. The evolution of creationism: The struggle for the schools. Natural History 103 (7): 10, 12–13.Google Scholar
Sharp, Elaine. 2002. Culture, institutions, and urban officials' responses to morality issues. Political Research Quarterly 55 (4): 861–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skoog, Gerald, and Bilica, Kimberly. 2002. The emphasis given to evolution in state science standards: A lever for change in evolution education? Science Education 86 (4): 445–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Christian. 1998. American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Alexander T., and Tatalovich, Raymon. 2003. Cultures at War: Moral Conflicts in Western Democracies. Peterborough, ON: Broadview.Google Scholar
Steensland, Brian, Park, Jerry Z., Regnerus, Mark D., Robinson, Lynn D., Wilcox, W. Bradford, and Woodberry, Robert D.. 2000. The measure of American religion: Toward improving the state of the art. Social Forces 79 (1): 291–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Susskind, Leonard. 2006. The good fight. In Intelligent Thought: Science Versus the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. Brockman, J.. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Timar, Thomas. 1997. The institutional role of state education departments: A historical perspective. American Journal of Education 105 (3): 231–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodberry, Robert D., and Smith, Christian S.. 1998. Fundamentalism et al.: Conservative Protestants in America. Annual Review of Sociology 24: 25–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar