https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920520973728 Critical Sociology 1–12 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0896920520973728 journals.sagepub.com/home/crs Questioning the Hope in Science and Schooling António Pedro de Andrade Dores ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal Abstract The succession of extraordinary traumatic events, such as the poles defrosting, the fires in Australia and Amazon, the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial global crises revival, the Black Lives Matter movement, seems to call for science (to solve problems) and schooling (to make time to the unemployed) for help. Science and schooling are some of the big successes of post-modern culture and states. Given these successes, questions remain. Why do they not deliver hope? We are left to ponder (a) why these extreme events takes us by surprise; (b) why those who have been afforded the best education ever areso anxious, so frozen; (c) why is it that our best policies, science, and minds continue to fail us when it comes to solving the problems associated with the environment, this pandemic, capitalism, and racism; and (d) given the promise of science, why are we so in need of solutions? Keywords sociology, science, social sciences, wisdom, disasters, schooling Introduction Today, many of the most pertinent criticisms of the status quo end with the Platonic hope that tech- noscience and schooling will solve problems (Harari, 2016; Mouzelis, 1995). In the case of the pandemic, most governments, except for Trump, Bolsonaro, and politicians campaigning against science and in favor of religion, claimed (falsely) to be following recommendations by scientists and epidemiologists (Devlin and Boseley, 2020). In today’s world, each role is professionally assigned in a watertight manner to people who have specialized skills and those skills are also watertight among themselves (Peake, 1991). Scientists do science and they don’t do politics. Politicians don’t do science and they do politics (Weber, 2012a, 2012b). Therefore, unless there is a (possibly desirable) change in the status quo, political responsibilities lie with politicians, whether or not they are guided by the scientists’ advice. For correspondence: António Pedro de Andrade Dores, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Av. Forças Aramadas, Lisboa 1549-026, Portugal. Email: apad@iscte-iul.pt 973728CRS 0 0 10.1177/0896920520973728Critical SociologyDores research-article 2020 Article