The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) has published a ‘Study on Causations of Science and Democracy Skepticism in Austria’. The study had been commissioned by BMBWF and was carried out by the Austrian Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in collaboration with Aarhus University.
The study looked at the question whether – and if so, to what extent – Austria’s population is sceptical of science and democracy, what could be reasons for possible scepticism, and in which areas measures for improvement of the situation could be envisaged in order to improve the situation.
The study focused on the relation between science, society and democracy and deals with the question how this relation has developed historically. It also looked at the attitudes of different groups of the population with regard to science and democracy, and how these are shaped in interaction with other sectors of society.