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Read Anti-Intellectualism in America by Richard* Hofstadter; it's as true and relevant today, as it was back then. The decline, if any, probably has to do with the fact that there wasn't a Cold War where scientists could participate directly against a tangible threat and common purpose: “The Sputnik was more than a shock to American national vanity: it brought an immense amount of attention to bear on the consequence…
There are lots of shows in which specific professions come across as cool - doctors, cops, lawyers (of all things)... on the other hand, whenever a computer scientist is portrayed in a show or a movie, what you get is the stereotypical nerd. And there are some good shows, too - but they're mostly funny shows, not cool as in "I want to be like that".
And what's better suited to shape the youth's role models than the media they consume? And I don't blame the networks or screenwriters or anything - I've tried to come up with a good concept for a show myself and couldn't do it.
Yet I've always found it puzzling that the person who simply buys the latest iPhone is considered hip, while the people who actually build and program them are looked down on...
Lawyers and MBAs made twice to 10x the money for the same or less amount of work.
I had BS and I had enrolled in an PhD engineering degree. One of the departments have had people working and living in the lab. Those were 25-year old dedicated professionals. One of my friends was getting married. When we asked him when was the engagement party, he said he "had not time for it." Good for him. That was not the job for me. I want to experience my life. My roommate works in an electrical engineering company. He plans to move to another place - the work hours that the workers attend to there are 8 am to 8 pm. For, well, 40 years? That is nowhere near normal-life-ish.
You also forgot other jobs also offer sunlight-filled offices and certainly more common human contacts. I do not want to spend my life in an isolated place or holed up in a windowsless lab. It sometimes happens in some science jobs.
I think the scientists have been resilient folks, when we put the settings that they have had to survive in. They have not been taught some social skills as much. Which you do not teach - you just let the people play them out. I am reading an IT-job interview book, which I quote: "however, like the engineers, many computer scientists have sub-standard communications skills."
First thought: the US no longer produces like before. Services have taken over manufacturing.
It's probably hard to tell the cause from the effect. May be they both have a little bit to do with each other. But in Indian movies, for example, the doctor and engineer or businessman usually gets the hot chick--not the macho cop or firefighters.
My pediatric surgeon dad who deals with kids everyday loves to chat with kids about their aspirations. In the US, vast majority of the kids want to become firefighters or cops. In contrast, when my dad practiced in India, majority of kids wanted to become doctors or engineers. It's probably hard to tell the cause from the effect. May be they both have a little bit to do with each other. But in Indian movies, for exam…
I thought about the same question before, or in particular the social prestige of computer scientists. My best shot is: because you cannot make cool TV shows about computer scientists. There are lots of shows in which specific professions come across as cool - doctors, cops, lawyers (of all things)... on the other hand, whenever a computer scientist is portrayed in a show or a movie, what you get is the stereotypical…
The percentage of smart people working in finance trended much higher then science and engineering. Fake disciplines like "Financial Engineering" thus became paramount. Institutions supported these changes.
If one were to push it, what you call "fake disciplines" can extend to most of human society. Don't go there.
Two books I've recently read are The Age of American Unreason by Jacoby [1] and Unscientific America by Mooney & Kirschenbaum [2]. Both are worth reading, but Jacoby gives a deeper and more thoughtful analysis and spends considerable time on historical roots and trends. This topic is tied heavily to politics, and I hesitate to get into that here. I will say this: science is about exploring, like math is about explori…