Deniers. They may trust science, but “maybe they understand conspiracy theories as legitimate scientific knowledge”

The Swiss Academy devoted last year to the study of The phenomenon of scientific populism He sought to find out whether people with populist attitudes toward science also had lower levels of trust in scientific institutions.

“What we found is that, yes, There is a relationship between distrust of science and populist attitudes toward it. But we also find people who seem to trust science and have, however, populist attitudes toward scientific knowledge.”

How then can it be explained that citizens who deny the guidance from experts on Covid-19 claim to trust the science? For Niels Medi, a hypothesis worth investigating is the possibility that these people Understand “conspiracy theories as legitimate scientific knowledge” and consider their authors equally legitimate experts.”

Thus, the researcher explains that deniers will say, “Of course, I trust science, but only true science,” which in this case is “these conspiracy theories.”

“It is possible that the conspiracy will tell us ‘I trust science and the scientific method, but I do not trust those who apply these methods because they are motivated by biased ideological impulses,'” he adds.

So it is important, as Midi defends, that Scientists are also ‘thinking about how to understand them – Elitist, assertive, as an authority – by the general public.”