This dissertation is an examination of trust in vaccine science, with a focus on ideas about vaccination outside the scientific consensus. It is grounded in empirical research, including 35 interviews and a review of publicly available documents, books, and academic articles. Theoretically, it is informed by theories in the sociology of science, social movements, and the sociology of expertise. In substantive chapters, it investigates the origins of the modern ‘anti-vaccine’ movement, the spread of the movement's ideas in different sociocultural and political contexts, and the perspectives and personal experiences of those who are part of the movement. Overall, it contributes to a growing body of literature that aims to change the conversation around vaccine hesitancy from an information-deficit problem to an issue about trust in institutions. The dissertation is organized into three main papers. The first is an analysis of a specific historic episode, namely the 1998 MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine-autism controversy. I find that institutional incentive structures unintentionally circulated misinformation about the MMR vaccine by former medical doctor Andrew Wakefield and posit the role that academic reward structures have in fostering public trust. The second paper examines vaccine hesitancy with a social movement lens, specifically focusing on the strategies used by the anti-vaccine movement to organize and frame their message. I introduce the concept of an ‘anti-scientific intellectual movement’ to understand the increasing trend of social groups opposing science as a set of institutions. The third paper is a study of the lived experiences of participants who were interviewed in 2019 about their views on vaccination and how their individual experiences and meaning-making activities impacted their trust in vaccine science. I find strong distrust in scientific institutions, a desire for open dialogue and debate, and dissatisfaction with the ‘anti-vaccine’ label which participants felt erased the nuance in their perspectives. Altogether, this dissertation makes significant contributions to ongoing discussions about the public face of science and how to effectively engage with public audiences to build trust. / Dissertation / Candidate in Philosophy

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Perspectiva convencional na Ciência Política prevê associação forte entre educação e comportamentos políticos desejáveis para a convivência democrática. Essa abordagem também infere que aumentos no nível de escolaridade de uma nação serão acompanhados por ganhos sustentados em participação e apoio a princípios democráticos, além de impactos na confiança nas instituições. Essas hipóteses foram revistas e testadas para o Brasil, com análise de surveys aplicados entre 1989 e 2006. As evidências encontradas confirmam a perspectiva convencional, observado um só ponto no tempo e ressalvadas dimensões de associativismo. A análise longitudinal, entre as duas pontas do período, revelou retornos declinantes para a escolaridade adicionada por diferentes níveis de instrução, sobretudo o ensino médio. Fatores relativos ao ambiente educacional, às gerações e às capacidades cognitivas foram investigados para compreender esse achado. A capacitação cognitiva do cidadão indicou ter efeito independente da escolaridade na conformação dos comportamentos políticos, sugerindo que é na perda de qualidade da escolarização brasileira recente que devem ser buscadas explicações. / Conventional wisdom in Political Science predicts strong association between education and political behavior favorable to democracy. This perspective also infers that increases in educational attainments levels of a nation bring sustainable gains in terms of civic and political participation and democratic principles support, as well as impacts on trust in institutions. These hypotheses were reviewed and tested on the Brazilian context, with analysis of surveys from 1989 to 2006. The evidence gathered confirm the conventional wisdom, when a single point in time is observed and with the exception of dimensions of civic engagement. The longitudinal analyses between the extremes of this time span revealed decreasing rewards to the education added up by different educational levels, specially the upper secondary (ensino médio). Factors related to the educational environment, generations and cognitive skills were then investigated in order to understand the findings. The development of cognitive skills showed effects on political behavior independent from education, suggesting that explanations must be searched for on the loss of quality of the Brazilian educational system.

While the literature on democracy and its relationship to trust provides little consensus regarding the role of trust, researchers have emphasized the importance of generalized trust over particularized in relation to democracy. This research marks a departure from this consensus, and exposes the neglected role of personal relationships in fostering successful democracy. One of the key measurements of democracy in a country is social trust. There are three forms of trust: generalized, particularized and institutional. Previously, the measurement of social trust focused on the importance of generalized trust, that is, trust in those we do not know (Putnam, 1993; Fukuyama, 1995, et. al). Generalized trust is marked as having the greatest benefits for democracy. Those who are generalized trusters have the will to bridge across ethnicities and join civic groups in larger numbers. Institutional trust is society's trust in its institutions. Countries ranking high on institutional trust are also believed to have positive democratic outcomes. By contrast, particularized trust is often dismissed because it is seen as highly atomizing and, therefore, incapable of making bridges to ethnic others resulting in a bankruptcy of democratic values. Thus, the combination of institutional and generalized trust has been the main crux of measurement and understanding in relation to a country's ability to democratize. The problem with this approach is two fold: first, it assumes the unidimensionality of trust and ultimately resigns a country of trusters to one category or the other with often negative impacts. The reality is, we are not solely one truster or the other: we are a combination of each form of trust. Secondly, this approach is Western in focus and does not account for the differentiation within cultures and is therefore unable to truly account for trust in a society. Nor does it account for new forms of trust and civil society in the new digital age. Recently, some questions about the legitimacy of this approach have surfaced and new methods have been employed to ascertain the true nature of social trust, however these methods have also fallen short (Gibson 2001; Bhary, et. al. 2005). Because trust is one measure used to determine the amount of democracy in a nation or the ability for it, accurate description is vital. Here, the author will take a new approach and focus on the importance of the often overlooked particularized trust, as well as control for the importance of institutionalized trust. Using Khodyakov's (2007) research on trust and the Soviet case as the launching pad, the author will empirically examine trust in the former Soviet Union today. Using the most recent World Values Survey data, a new trust variable will be constructed that will be better able to capture the true, dynamic nature of trust. Placing this new trust variable in a Bayesian hierarchical linear model which will control for country level variables, it will be revealed that particularized trust can and does have positive impacts on support for democracy, debunking current notions to the contrary.

Perspectiva convencional na Ciência Política prevê associação forte entre educação e comportamentos políticos desejáveis para a convivência democrática. Essa abordagem também infere que aumentos no nível de escolaridade de uma nação serão acompanhados por ganhos sustentados em participação e apoio a princípios democráticos, além de impactos na confiança nas instituições. Essas hipóteses foram revistas e testadas para o Brasil, com análise de surveys aplicados entre 1989 e 2006. As evidências encontradas confirmam a perspectiva convencional, observado um só ponto no tempo e ressalvadas dimensões de associativismo. A análise longitudinal, entre as duas pontas do período, revelou retornos declinantes para a escolaridade adicionada por diferentes níveis de instrução, sobretudo o ensino médio. Fatores relativos ao ambiente educacional, às gerações e às capacidades cognitivas foram investigados para compreender esse achado. A capacitação cognitiva do cidadão indicou ter efeito independente da escolaridade na conformação dos comportamentos políticos, sugerindo que é na perda de qualidade da escolarização brasileira recente que devem ser buscadas explicações. / Conventional wisdom in Political Science predicts strong association between education and political behavior favorable to democracy. This perspective also infers that increases in educational attainments levels of a nation bring sustainable gains in terms of civic and political participation and democratic principles support, as well as impacts on trust in institutions. These hypotheses were reviewed and tested on the Brazilian context, with analysis of surveys from 1989 to 2006. The evidence gathered confirm the conventional wisdom, when a single point in time is observed and with the exception of dimensions of civic engagement. The longitudinal analyses between the extremes of this time span revealed decreasing rewards to the education added up by different educational levels, specially the upper secondary (ensino médio). Factors related to the educational environment, generations and cognitive skills were then investigated in order to understand the findings. The development of cognitive skills showed effects on political behavior independent from education, suggesting that explanations must be searched for on the loss of quality of the Brazilian educational system.