Public Proof : Science Communication, Weak Theory, and the Nonrational

Graduation date: 2017A 2014 Pew Research poll revealed large gaps between public opinion and scientific opinion over environmental and biomedical issues (Funk and Rainie). Similarly, a number of recent popular books have described a growing public mistrust in scientific expertise (Mooney; Storr; Specter). Why is it, then, that so much of the public opinion is at odds with expert, scientific opinion? In this thesis I examine this research question in two ways: first from the perspective of the disciplines of Science Communication and Public Understanding of Science in Chapter 1, then in Chapter 2, from the perspective of rhetorical studies, using critical theory and affect scholarship, and lastly, in the case study of Chapter 3, I examine a specific instance of failure in Science Communication—the failed 2013 measure to implement a community fluoridation program in Portland, Oregon—analyze this failure as a result of rationalist and scientistic assumptions about public deliberation, and finally suggest that fluoride could have been communicated more effectively using a more local, nonrational, and values-based approach