>>It’s not science they distrust so much as scientists — especially ones in more nebulous, activism-driven fields like ecology or sociology.
Jerry Pournelle called these the Voodoo Sciences many years ago, and was quite dismissive of them, and for good reasons.
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/science/voodoo.html
The first part of the above was written in 1988, so the issues with so-called “Science” in these areas have been known for a few decades.
I think I first saw that essay in one of the three "Imperial Stars" books of Mr. Pournelle. It was a good collection of stories and essays. Some are kind of dated now, but still worthwhile. I think Baen has all three volumes as ebooks.