Fern Elsdon‐baker
Biographic Data
| ID | 4817343 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fern Elsdon‐baker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fern |
| FAMILY NAME | Elsdon‐baker |
| SIGNATURE | BAKER F E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Birmingham |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Global perceptions of religious and non-religious scientists
Previous research investigating perception of science and scientists indicates that certain physical, behavioural and belief system–related attributes are associated with scientists. Some of these include white, male, reserved and devoted to work. The current research takes an international approach into perceptions of science and scientists related to (non-)religious social identity. Four studies ( n = 1146) across four countries (the United Kin…
Conflict narrative, stigmatisation and strategic behaviour of religious scientists in the Argentinean scientific field
Recent surveys show that most scientists do not perceive a conflict between science and religion. However, in many Western societies the 'conflict narrative' prevails, which states that science grows at the expense of religion, and vice versa. Furthermore, evidence indicates the presence of stigmas against religion in many scientific fields of the West. Why do religious scientists feel discriminated in a field where several of their colleagues ar…
The Social Imaginary of Science and Nonreligion
Previous sociological research on science and religion, and secularity and nonreligion, has highlighted a consistent connection between science and nonreligious identities. Yet, the dynamics of this association have not been explored in depth. Building upon a growing body of work, this article adopts a relational approach to science and nonreligion to analyze nonreligious life scientists and members of the public in Canada and the UK’s narratives…
Science, religion, and nonreligion
Within the last 20 years sociological research on science and religion has provided new insights that challenge myths regarding conflicts between science and religion. Gaps in pre-existing work have been identified resulting in major shifts in the field. In particular, research has employed more mixed methods, widened its scope to become more international, and expanded to include nonreligion. Building upon these developments and critiques, this …
Religious diversity in science
Research shows that scientists tend to be less religious than the general population, and scientists’ religious affiliation and participation have declined over time (Ecklund & Park, 2009; Ecklund et al., 2008). Given the demographic differences between scientists and the general population, it was predicted that scientists who are religious would be regarded as having a counter-stereotypical combination of social identities. However, across five…
Content Matters
Science and religion are often portrayed as monolithic entities in perpetual and necessary conflict. We explore the extent to which perceptions of conflict or compatibility between science and religion are content dependent and are associated with participants’ own religious or non-religious social identities. In doing so, we develop a novel Science and Religion Conflict/Compatibility Scale. Across three studies (n = 1,506), we consistently find …
What science means to me
Within science and technology studies, there is an established tradition of examining publics’ knowledge of, trust in, access to and engagement with science, but less attention has been paid to whether and why publics identify with science. While this is understandable given the field’s interest in bridging gaps between publics and producers of scientific knowledge, it leaves unanswered questions about how science forms part of people’s worldview…
Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion
Classical sociology addressed the relationship between science and religion, but interest in the topic waned during the 20th century. A second wave of research has emerged in the 21st century, focusing on scientists' (ir)religiosity, evolution, and the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of scientific concepts. Most of this research has been conducted in the United States, used quantitative methods, and focused on creationism, although …
That's how Muslims are required to view the world
Islam's positioning in relation to Western ideals of individuality, freedom, women's rights and democracy has been an abiding theme of sociological analysis and cultural criticism, especially since September 11 2001. Less attention has been paid, however, to another concept that has been central to the image of Western modernity: science. This article analyses comments about Islam gathered over the course of 117 interviews and 13 focus groups wit…
Knowledge as Explanandum
Issues pertaining to the relationship between science and religion, like creationism, Intelligent Design, and New Atheism, are increasingly the focus of social scientific research. This research often does not differentiate clearly between different kinds of social actors. At the most basic level, professional developers and distributors of systems of thought that deal with the relationship between science and religion, and laypeople who take up …
Creating creationists
Clash narratives relating to evolutionary science and personal belief are a recurrent theme in media or public space discourse. However, a 2009 British Council poll undertaken in 10 countries worldwide shows that the perception of a necessary clash between evolutionary worldviews and belief in a God is a minority viewpoint. How then does the popular conception that there is an ongoing conflict between evolution and belief in God arise? One contri…
Contested inheritance
Debates over transgenerational inheritance of acquired characters under the banner of epigenetics research, while contested, are becoming increasingly mainstream. However, given the polysemic nature of the terms ‘epigenetics’ ‘transgenerational’ and ‘inheritance of acquired characters', facets of this debate, both historically and contemporarily, actually relate to and are indeed reinforced by the terms’ undifferentiated usage. In order to shed l…
That's how Muslims are required to view the world
Islam's positioning in relation to Western ideals of individuality, freedom, women's rights and democracy has been an abiding theme of sociological analysis and cultural criticism, especially since September 11 2001. Less attention has been paid, however, to another concept that has been central to the image of Western modernity: science. This article analyses comments about Islam gathered over the course of 117 interviews and 13 focus groups wit…
Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion
Classical sociology addressed the relationship between science and religion, but interest in the topic waned during the 20th century. A second wave of research has emerged in the 21st century, focusing on scientists' (ir)religiosity, evolution, and the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of scientific concepts. Most of this research has been conducted in the United States, used quantitative methods, and focused on creationism, although …
The Social Imaginary of Science and Nonreligion
Previous sociological research on science and religion, and secularity and nonreligion, has highlighted a consistent connection between science and nonreligious identities. Yet, the dynamics of this association have not been explored in depth. Building upon a growing body of work, this article adopts a relational approach to science and nonreligion to analyze nonreligious life scientists and members of the public in Canada and the UK’s narratives…
Science, religion, and nonreligion
Within the last 20 years sociological research on science and religion has provided new insights that challenge myths regarding conflicts between science and religion. Gaps in pre-existing work have been identified resulting in major shifts in the field. In particular, research has employed more mixed methods, widened its scope to become more international, and expanded to include nonreligion. Building upon these developments and critiques, this …
Content Matters
Science and religion are often portrayed as monolithic entities in perpetual and necessary conflict. We explore the extent to which perceptions of conflict or compatibility between science and religion are content dependent and are associated with participants’ own religious or non-religious social identities. In doing so, we develop a novel Science and Religion Conflict/Compatibility Scale. Across three studies (n = 1,506), we consistently find …
Knowledge as Explanandum
Issues pertaining to the relationship between science and religion, like creationism, Intelligent Design, and New Atheism, are increasingly the focus of social scientific research. This research often does not differentiate clearly between different kinds of social actors. At the most basic level, professional developers and distributors of systems of thought that deal with the relationship between science and religion, and laypeople who take up …
Religious diversity in science
Research shows that scientists tend to be less religious than the general population, and scientists’ religious affiliation and participation have declined over time (Ecklund & Park, 2009; Ecklund et al., 2008). Given the demographic differences between scientists and the general population, it was predicted that scientists who are religious would be regarded as having a counter-stereotypical combination of social identities. However, across five…
Creating creationists
Clash narratives relating to evolutionary science and personal belief are a recurrent theme in media or public space discourse. However, a 2009 British Council poll undertaken in 10 countries worldwide shows that the perception of a necessary clash between evolutionary worldviews and belief in a God is a minority viewpoint. How then does the popular conception that there is an ongoing conflict between evolution and belief in God arise? One contri…
Contested inheritance
Debates over transgenerational inheritance of acquired characters under the banner of epigenetics research, while contested, are becoming increasingly mainstream. However, given the polysemic nature of the terms ‘epigenetics’ ‘transgenerational’ and ‘inheritance of acquired characters', facets of this debate, both historically and contemporarily, actually relate to and are indeed reinforced by the terms’ undifferentiated usage. In order to shed l…
Knowledge as Explanandum
Issues pertaining to the relationship between science and religion, like creationism, Intelligent Design, and New Atheism, are increasingly the focus of social scientific research. This research often does not differentiate clearly between different kinds of social actors. At the most basic level, professional developers and distributors of systems of thought that deal with the relationship between science and religion, and laypeople who take up …
Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion
Classical sociology addressed the relationship between science and religion, but interest in the topic waned during the 20th century. A second wave of research has emerged in the 21st century, focusing on scientists' (ir)religiosity, evolution, and the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of scientific concepts. Most of this research has been conducted in the United States, used quantitative methods, and focused on creationism, although …
That's how Muslims are required to view the world
Islam's positioning in relation to Western ideals of individuality, freedom, women's rights and democracy has been an abiding theme of sociological analysis and cultural criticism, especially since September 11 2001. Less attention has been paid, however, to another concept that has been central to the image of Western modernity: science. This article analyses comments about Islam gathered over the course of 117 interviews and 13 focus groups wit…
What science means to me
Within science and technology studies, there is an established tradition of examining publics’ knowledge of, trust in, access to and engagement with science, but less attention has been paid to whether and why publics identify with science. While this is understandable given the field’s interest in bridging gaps between publics and producers of scientific knowledge, it leaves unanswered questions about how science forms part of people’s worldview…
Religious diversity in science
Research shows that scientists tend to be less religious than the general population, and scientists’ religious affiliation and participation have declined over time (Ecklund & Park, 2009; Ecklund et al., 2008). Given the demographic differences between scientists and the general population, it was predicted that scientists who are religious would be regarded as having a counter-stereotypical combination of social identities. However, across five…
Content Matters
Science and religion are often portrayed as monolithic entities in perpetual and necessary conflict. We explore the extent to which perceptions of conflict or compatibility between science and religion are content dependent and are associated with participants’ own religious or non-religious social identities. In doing so, we develop a novel Science and Religion Conflict/Compatibility Scale. Across three studies (n = 1,506), we consistently find …
The Social Imaginary of Science and Nonreligion
Previous sociological research on science and religion, and secularity and nonreligion, has highlighted a consistent connection between science and nonreligious identities. Yet, the dynamics of this association have not been explored in depth. Building upon a growing body of work, this article adopts a relational approach to science and nonreligion to analyze nonreligious life scientists and members of the public in Canada and the UK’s narratives…
Science, religion, and nonreligion
Within the last 20 years sociological research on science and religion has provided new insights that challenge myths regarding conflicts between science and religion. Gaps in pre-existing work have been identified resulting in major shifts in the field. In particular, research has employed more mixed methods, widened its scope to become more international, and expanded to include nonreligion. Building upon these developments and critiques, this …
Conflict narrative, stigmatisation and strategic behaviour of religious scientists in the Argentinean scientific field
Recent surveys show that most scientists do not perceive a conflict between science and religion. However, in many Western societies the 'conflict narrative' prevails, which states that science grows at the expense of religion, and vice versa. Furthermore, evidence indicates the presence of stigmas against religion in many scientific fields of the West. Why do religious scientists feel discriminated in a field where several of their colleagues ar…
Global perceptions of religious and non-religious scientists
Previous research investigating perception of science and scientists indicates that certain physical, behavioural and belief system–related attributes are associated with scientists. Some of these include white, male, reserved and devoted to work. The current research takes an international approach into perceptions of science and scientists related to (non-)religious social identity. Four studies ( n = 1146) across four countries (the United Kin…
Sociology (12 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (7 works) · Social science (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Evolution and Science Education (4 works)