The pseudo-science and financial literacy

The article highlights the results of International Conference “Pseudoscience in modern society: theoretical and methodological approaches and strategies to counter” which took place in Moscow on November 26, 2015. This scientific event held active discussion - in a modern society with a high level of coverage of all the processes and institutions of science and pseudoscience clashes have increasingly become the facts of public discourse. Pseudoscience is widely prevalent in societies with a low level of scientific literacy. In the 1990s the theme of science practically disappeared from Russian media space, which was caused by the economic crisis, journalistic practices change in the direction of entertainment and commercialization of content, a decrease in the needs of the audience of scientific information. However, in the 2010s in Russia a request for quality journalism about science was formed, and therefore the creation of a positive image of Russian science, its popularization and counter pseudoscientific ideas have become a significant challenge to socially responsible journalism. The particular attention is paid to the problems of the demarcation of scientific and non-scientific knowledge on the example of public finances as a basic methodological framework to increase the financial literacy of Russians. The authors describe the basic elements of the non-scientific public finances impeding effective financial literacy. The basic characteristics of pseudoscience in public finances and ways to combat them are also highlighted.