Call for panelists, HSS 2025: From Trust to Crisis: Scientific Credibility and Institutional Legitimacy in the 20th Century

 From Trust to Crisis: Scientific Credibility and Institutional Legitimacy in the 20th Century 

Call for panelists for a section at HSS 2025 in New Orleans, November 13-16, 2025. 

Throughout the 20th century, science emerged as one of the most trusted social institutions, often supplanting religion as the primary source of epistemic authority. This trust, however, was neither static nor unchallenged. Institutions frequently appropriated the credibility of science to legitimize their policies, reinforce ideological agendas, or justify governance strategies. This strategic deployment of scientific authority took various forms, from the use of experts in decision-making processes to rhetorical claims of "scientific planning," "science-based modernization," and "scientific management.

The intersection of science and institutional trust raises important historical questions. What mechanisms did institutions use to cultivate and maintain their association with scientific authority? To what extent did scientists themselves shape or contest these appropriations? How did moments of institutional crisis - whether political, environmental, or economic - affect public trust in science? Conversely, how did scientific controversies or failures, such as the Chernobyl disaster, affect the institutions that relied on science for legitimacy?

This panel seeks contributions that explore the evolving relationship between science and institutional trust in different historical contexts in the twentieth century. We invite papers that address, but are not limited to, the following topics

• The role of trust in scientific expertise in state governance and policy-making
• The use of science as a legitimizing tool by international organizations
• The impact of ideological and political changes on the credibility of science
• Scientific crises and their impact on institutional trust
• The agency of scientists in shaping, resisting, or reinforcing institutional trust narratives

Case studies examining the appropriation of science and scientific credibility in industry, public health, or environmental policy.

By examining these dynamics, this panel aims to historicize the fluctuating nature of trust in science and interrogate its role in shaping modern institutions. We welcome contributions from scholars across disciplines, including history of science, political history, and intellectual history.

Please send abstracts of 2,000 characters or less, to surman@mua.cas.cz and doubravka.olsakova@fsv.cuni.cz by February 28, 2025. Please feel free to contact us with informal inquiries beforehand.