scholarly journals Unmasking partisanship: Polarization undermines public response to collective risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 204 ◽  
pp. 104538
Author(s):  
Maria Milosh ◽  
Marcus Painter ◽  
Konstantin Sonin ◽  
David Van Dijcke ◽  
Austin L. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Public Response ◽  
Collective Risk

A Slow Unfolding “Fault Sequence”: Risk and Responsibility in Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Julia Hoydis
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Risk Behaviour ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Environmental Destruction ◽  
Human Risk ◽  
Collective Risk ◽  
Aesthetic Form ◽  
Personal Crisis ◽  
Dramatic Text

AbstractBritish playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children (2016) tackles the imaginative challenge of depicting environmental crisis, in particular the risks of nuclear destruction and climate change. With questions of intra- and intergenerational justice being at the heart of the dramatic text, this article draws on conceptions and insights from cultural risk theory to argue that human risk behaviour and decision-making is the play’s main focus and determines characterisation as well as structure. Interrogating the tension between aesthetic form and content, it shows how The Children naturalizes the (post-)apocalyptic condition and strives for a balance of scales with regard to collective and personal crisis. Characteristic of the rapidly growing corpus of contemporary “cli-fi” drama, and in accordance with many of the strategies proclaimed by climate communication theory, the play stages the catastrophic implications of environmental destruction predominantly as collective risk management and in a predominantly realist manner, discarding formal experimentation as well as futurist setting. Yet this article argues that it remains ambiguous what kind of risk management is proposed and whether we should read it as a call for action or as an imaginative means of accepting finitude.

scholarly journals A pandemic of jokes? The Israeli COVID-19 meme and the construction of a collective response to risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsafi Sebba-Elran
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Group Cohesion ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Hybrid Nature ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
News Announcements ◽  
Experience Of Time ◽  
Current Article

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in Israel in February 2020 prompted widespread public response, which included a deluge of humorous memes. The current article discusses the main meme cycles of the pandemic with the aim of uncovering the functions of the humorous meme, and particularly its singular language, which incorporates the universal and the particular, the global and the local, the hegemonic and the subversive. The memes are examined in their immediate context, as responses to news announcements, restrictions, and rumors relating to the pandemic, and from a comparative perspective, with emphasis on the various functions of disaster jokes and the use of folklore in response to previous epidemics, crises, or risks. Alongside the hybrid nature of the genre, these meme cycles demonstrate that COVID-19 is not just a threatening virus but a new reality that undermines our experience of time and space, evoking old beliefs and new, and threatening to change everyday practices. These narratives not only reflect the incongruities evoked by the virus, but also give vent to anxieties and aggressions brought on by the pandemic and convey a communal need to protect and foster group cohesion and a local sense of belonging.

Collective Risk and Distributional Equity in Climate Change Bargaining

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200272110273
Author(s):  
Aseem Mahajan ◽  
Reuben Kline ◽  
Dustin Tingley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Characteristic Feature ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Bargaining Model ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
Collective Risk ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Alternating Offers ◽  
International Climate Negotiations

International climate negotiations occur against the backdrop of increasing collective risk: the likelihood of catastrophic economic loss due to climate change will continue to increase unless and until global mitigation efforts are sufficient to prevent it. We introduce a novel alternating-offers bargaining model that incorporates this characteristic feature of climate change. We test the model using an incentivized experiment. We manipulate two important distributional equity principles: capacity to pay for mitigation of climate change and vulnerability to its potentially catastrophic effects. Our results show that less vulnerable parties do not exploit the greater vulnerability of their bargaining partners. They are, rather, more generous. Conversely, parties with greater capacity are less generous in their offers. Both collective risk itself and its importance in light of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report make it all the more urgent to better understand this crucial strategic feature of climate change bargaining.

scholarly journals Citizen views on genome editing: effects of species and purpose

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa Busch ◽  
Erin Ryan ◽  
Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk ◽  
Daniel M. Weary
Keyword(s):  
Disease Resistance ◽  
Product Quality ◽  
Genome Editing ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Perceived Risks ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us

AbstractPublic opinion can affect the adoption of genome editing technologies. In food production, genome editing can be applied to a wide range of applications, in different species and with different purposes. This study analyzed how the public responds to five different applications of genome editing, varying the species involved and the proposed purpose of the modification. Three of the applications described the introduction of disease resistance within different species (human, plant, animal), and two targeted product quality and quantity in cattle. Online surveys in Canada, the US, Austria, Germany and Italy were carried out with a total sample size of 3698 participants. Using a between-subject design, participants were confronted with one of the five applications and asked to decide whether they considered it right or wrong. Perceived risks, benefits, and the perception of the technology as tampering with nature were surveyed and were complemented with socio-demographics and a measure of the participants’ moral foundations. In all countries, participants evaluated the application of disease resistance in humans as most right to do, followed by disease resistance in plants, and then in animals, and considered changes in product quality and quantity in cattle as least right to do. However, US and Italian participants were generally more positive toward all scenarios, and German and Austrian participants more negative. Cluster analyses identified four groups of participants: ‘strong supporters’ who saw only benefits and little risks, ‘slight supporters’ who perceived risks and valued benefits, ‘neutrals’ who showed no pronounced opinion, and ‘opponents’ who perceived higher risks and lower benefits. This research contributes to understanding public response to applications of genome editing, revealing differences that can help guide decisions related to adoption of these technologies.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study of COVID-19 Distress in University Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 216769682110251
Author(s):  
Samantha G. Farris ◽  
Mindy M. Kibbey ◽  
Erick J. Fedorenko ◽  
Angelo M. DiBello
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Viral Outbreak ◽  
Selection Of

The psychological effect of the pandemic and measures taken in response to control viral spread are not yet well understood in university students; in-depth qualitative analysis can provide nuanced information about the young adult distress experience. Undergraduate students ( N = 624) in an early US outbreak “hotspot” completed an online narrative writing about the impact and distress experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected April-May 2020. A random selection of 50 cases were sampled for thematic analysis. Nine themes were identified: viral outbreak distress, fear of virus contraction/transmission, proximity to virus, dissatisfaction with public response, physical distancing distress, social distancing distress, academic and school-related distress, disruptive changes in health behavior and routines, financial strain and unemployment, worsening of pre-existing mental health problems, and social referencing that minimizes distress. Future work is needed to understand the persistence of the distress, in addition to developing methods for assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of the distress.

scholarly journals Public Response, Anxiety and Behaviour during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4628
Author(s):  
Amani Salem Alqahtani ◽  
Meshael Mohammed Alrasheed ◽  
Ada Mohammed Alqunaibet
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Phone Survey ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Government

This study aims to investigate public response attitude, anxiety, practices and trust in the authorities’ mitigation plan during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. A national cross sectional phone survey was conducted among Saudi residents aged 16 years and above. A total of 90,421 (45.2%) individuals participated in the study. Of those, the overall rate of COVID-19 correct knowledge was 82% (mean: 9.84); social media was the most reported source of knowledge. Younger age, low levels of education and foreign residents were associated with poor knowledge. Overall, 49.5% scored 5 or more on the GAD-7 test, indicating anxiety symptoms, 19.2% of them scored 10 and above, suggesting moderate to severe anxiety. Majority of participants (>78%) trusted and supported the interventions implemented by the government to control COVID-19. Social distancing practices among participants was as following, 72.5% stayed at home and avoid going out for nonessential business and 49.5% avoided attending social events and family gatherings. Trust in authorities, being anxious, worry and levels of knowledge about the disease, were the most common factors affecting adoption of the recommended practices. Continuous evaluation of public response about COVID-19, and the effectiveness of protective measures is essential to better inform policy-makers and identify ways of encouraging behaviour change among public during pandemic.

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