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700 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (2022)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0700 and id is 1 raw text is: Threats to Science: Politicization, Misinformation, and Inequalities By JAMES N. DRUCKMAN Science is often considered the best available route to knowledge and, thus, essential for societal progress. Yet contemporary science faces several challenges. These challenges include politicization, misinformation, and inequalities. I outline each of these threats, detailing the ways in which they can undermine the optimal production and application of science. I provide an overview of various research agendas on each, as cov- ered in this volume. Without minimizing the serious- ness posed by each threat, I also suggest that existing work provides reason for hope that the scientific enter- prise can address these challenges and continue to improve societal well-being. Keywords: politicization of science; misinformation; inequality; scientific progress The scientific enterprise leads a precarious existence. It produces systematized knowl- edge that constitutes an unrivaled information source on which to base decisions. Yet science also incentivizes criticism, cannot provide definitive proof, and is practiced by a relatively small, homogenous group of experts. These lat- ter features make science vulnerable to threats that undermine its usefulness. These threats include the misappropriation of science for reasons orthogonal to the creation of knowledge (specifically, political motivations), misinforma- tion where inaccurate claims appear in the guise of science, and inequalities of representa- tion in the scientific enterprise that can lead to flawed epistemology and group disenfranchise- ment. While these threats are not new, societal and technological trends in the twenty-first James N. Druekman is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science and a faculyti ellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He is also an honorary professor of political science at Aarhus University in Denmark. NOTE: I thank Robin Bayes for superb advice on a prior draft. Correspondence: druckman@northwestern.edu DOI: 10.1177/00027162221095431 ANNALS, AAPSS, 700, March 2022 fl