The credibility of scientific expertise in a culture of suspicion

Abstract

Scientists and other technical experts in the UK increasingly complain that their credibility is being eroded and that the public is ever more reluctant to believe what they say. This is sometimes seen as a part of a larger 'problem of trust', afflicting all our major institutions: science attracts suspicion because it is no longer perceived as independent and is regarded instead as tied to the interests of those institutions. But it is suggested here that the credibility of scientific expertise actually remains remarkably high, that the so called 'problem of trust' is not a problem at all, and that the rise of a culture of suspicion, which does admittedly cause experts some slight inconvenience at times, is nonetheless something they should welcome and encourage.