[tsotha]

I don't see any reason to believe the social prestige of science and engineering is actually declining. It's never been very high. You can go back to popular culture references in the '50s to see that.

People aren't avoiding STEM majors in college because of a lack of prestige. It's because science and technology is hard work and there's not a lot of money in it. If you're willing to put in that kind of time there are other, easier ways to make more money.

Outside of a small slice of the population in media and entertainment, "social prestige" is nothing more than how much money you make . Investment bankers don't get a lot of interest from women because investment banking is interesting or investment bankers are seen to be somehow better than other people.