HKS Affiliated Authors
Professor of Public Policy, HKS; Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, FAS
Excerpt
Excerpt
“Get your swabs out of my face!” Links between Institutional Context and Public Support for New Technologies. Jennifer Hochschild, June 6, 2016, Paper. "While not dispositive, public opinion may be especially influential for elected officials on issues about which they have no prior record, views, or expertise. Views on medical and forensic biobanks, therefore, may be important for policy development. Comparison of views between them enable a test of our theory that differing levels of institutionalization are crucial in shaping public responses to technology; the overall population and politically salient groups have much stronger reactions, both positive and negative, to technologies that are deeply embedded in institutional context than to those with few institutional roots. The evidence comes from a new national survey of about 4000 Americans, with parallel items on medical and forensic DNA databases and almost 4000 open-ended comments explaining respondents’ stances on biobanking." Link