scholarly journals Avoiding a public health dilemma: Social norms and trust facilitate preventive behaviour if individuals perceive low COVID-19 health risks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Kittel ◽  
Fabian Kalleitner ◽  
David W. Schiestl
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
High Adherence ◽  
Preventive Behaviour ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Until a vaccine becomes available, a frequently adopted strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic involves three non-pharmaceutical interventions that crucially depend on high adherence in society: maintaining physical distance from others, minimizing social contacts, and wearing face masks. These measures require substantial changes in established practices of social interaction, raising the question of which factors motivate individuals to comply with these preventive behaviours. Using Austrian panel survey data from April to October 2020 we show that perceived health risks, social norms, and trust in political institutions stimulate people to engage in preventive behaviour. Moderation analyses show that the effectiveness of social norms and trust in institutions in facilitating preventive behaviour increases when people's perceptions of health risks decrease. This result suggests that trust in institutions and strong social norms play a crucial role in achieving high rates of preventive behaviour when perceived levels of health risks are low.

scholarly journals Peers for the fearless: Social norms facilitate preventive behaviour when individuals perceive low COVID-19 health risks

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0260171
Author(s):  
Bernhard Kittel ◽  
Fabian Kalleitner ◽  
David W. Schiestl
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Preventive Behaviour ◽  
People’S Perceptions

A strategy frequently adopted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic involves three non-pharmaceutical interventions that depend on high levels of compliance in society: maintaining physical distance from others, minimizing social contacts, and wearing a face mask. These measures require substantial changes in established practices of social interaction, raising the question of which factors motivate individuals to comply with these preventive behaviours. Using Austrian panel survey data from April 2020 to April 2021, we show that perceived health risks, social norms, and trust in political institutions stimulate people to engage in preventive behaviour. A moderation analysis shows that the effectiveness of social norms in facilitating preventive behaviour increases when people’s perceptions of health risks decrease. No such moderation effect is observed for trust in political institutions. These results suggest that strong social norms play a crucial role in achieving high rates of preventive behaviour, especially when perceived levels of health risks are low.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Circle Perceptions in “False Consensus” about Population Statistics: Evidence from a National Flu Survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-241
Author(s):  
Wändi Bruine de Bruin ◽  
Mirta Galesic ◽  
Andrew M. Parker ◽  
Raffaele Vardavas
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Population Estimates ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Population Statistics ◽  
Social Circle ◽  
False Consensus ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Purpose. “False consensus” refers to individuals with (v. without) an experience judging that experience as more (v. less) prevalent in the population. We examined the role of people’s perceptions of their social circles (family, friends, and acquaintances) in shaping their population estimates, false consensus patterns, and vaccination intentions. Methods. In a national online flu survey, 351 participants indicated their personal vaccination and flu experiences, assessed the percentage of individuals with those experiences in their social circles and the population, and reported their vaccination intentions. Results. Participants’ population estimates of vaccination coverage and flu prevalence were associated with their perceptions of their social circles’ experiences, independent of their own experiences. Participants reporting less social circle “homophily” (or fewer social contacts sharing their experience) showed less false consensus and even “false uniqueness.” Vaccination intentions were greater among nonvaccinators reporting greater social circle vaccine coverage. Discussion. Social circle perceptions play a role in population estimates and, among individuals who do not vaccinate, vaccination intentions. We discuss implications for the literature on false consensus, false uniqueness, and social norms interventions.

scholarly journals Between Sicilia and Lombardy: Relation between trust, civil norms and social participation among citizens of Serbia

Sociologija ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Stanojevic ◽  
Dragana Stokanic
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Informal Support ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Formal Organizations ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

The one of the key precondition of social and political participation of citizens is their interpersonal and institutional trust. In order to avoid the increase of individual atomization and/or excessively rise of informal support networks, institutional organizations are crucial. For that reason, it is necessary to exist certain level of trust in institutional arrangements. This paper will be focused on widely used concept of social capital for analysis of interaction between trust, social norms and participation. Concerning participation, in this paper the difference between ?generalized? trust in public institutions and ?specific?, personalized trust in people is explained. This situation of low trust in people and institutions which are interlinked and create general atmosphere of distrust is present in post-socialist societies, such as Serbia. Firstly, the aim of this paper is to show level of participation in different organizations and the trust of citizens of Serbia in political institutions, as well as trust in people in general. Additionally, the acceptance of civil norms will be presented. Secondly, it will be analyzed in what extant formal organizations contribute to the trust creation and the acceptance of social norms as forms of universal values which are necessary for basic social consensus and solidarity. Also, it will be presented the relation between trust in certain institutions and organizations and the acceptance of civil norms. In order to achieve these goals, it will be used quantitative analysis and databases World Values Survey, fifth wave conducted from 2005 to 2007.

scholarly journals Older People’s Nonphysical Contacts and Depression During the COVID-19 Lockdown

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Arpino ◽  
Marta Pasqualini ◽  
Valeria Bordone ◽  
Aïda Solé-Auró
Keyword(s):  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Social Closeness ◽  
Depressive Feelings ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
Design And Methods

Abstract Background and Objectives With the goal of slowing down the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, restrictions to physical contacts have been taken in many countries. We examine to what extent intergenerational and other types of nonphysical contacts have reduced the risk of increased perceived depressive feelings during the lockdown for people aged 50+. Research Design and Methods We implemented an online panel survey based on quota sampling in France, Italy, and Spain in April 2020, about 1 month after the start of the lockdown. Our analyses are based on logistic regression models and use post-stratification weights. Results About 50% of individuals aged 50+ felt sad or depressed more often than usual during the lockdown in the 3 considered countries. Older people who increased or maintained unchanged nonphysical contacts with noncoresident individuals during the lockdown were at a lower risk of increased perceived depressive feelings compared to those who experienced a reduction in nonphysical contacts. The beneficial effect of nonphysical contacts was stronger for intergenerational relationships. The effects were similar by gender and stronger among individuals aged 70+, living in Spain and not living alone before the start of the lockdown. Discussion and Implications In the next phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, or during any future similar pandemic, policy makers may implement measures that balance the need to reduce the spread of the virus with the necessity of allowing for limited physical contacts. Social contacts at a distance may be encouraged as a means to keep social closeness, while being physically distant.

scholarly journals Taxing Higher Incomes: What Makes the High-Income Earners Consent to More Progressive Taxation in Latin America?

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Berens ◽  
Armin von Schiller
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
High Income ◽  
Public System ◽  
Progressive Taxation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Fiscal Contract ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Progressive Income Taxation

Abstract When do high-income earners get ‘on board’ with the fiscal contract and accept paying a larger share of the tax burden? Progressive taxes perform particularly poorly in developing countries. We argue that the common opposition of the affluent to more progressive taxation is not merely connected to administrative limitations to coercively enforce compliance, but also to the uncertainty that high-income earners associate with the returns to taxes. Because coercion is not an option, there is a need to convince high-income earners to ‘invest’ in the public system via taxes. Trust in institutions is decisive for the fiscal contract. Expecting that paid contributions will be used in a sensible manner, high-income earners will be more supportive of progressive income taxation. We study tax composition preferences of a cross-section of Latin American countries using public opinion data from LAPOP for 2012. Findings reveal that higher levels of trust in political institutions strongly mitigate the opposition of the affluent towards more progressive taxation.

Activism as Ethical Practice: Queer Politics in Contemporary India

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naisargi N. Dave
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Rural India ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Gay Pride ◽  
Queer Politics

Why are activists, activists? In this article I address that question, as well as what it means for an ethnographer to ask it. Based on fieldwork with lesbian and gay activists in New Delhi, I argue that activism emerges as ethical practice, and that ‘ethical practice’ consists of three affective exercises: problematizing established social norms, inventing alternatives to those norms, and creatively practicing those newly invented relational possibilities. But the political institutions that activists must engage in order to effect the transformations that they seek are far from conducive to the cultivation of the ethical practice that is at the heart of activism, and this article is partly an ethnography of this tension. I study this tension by tracing a series of key movements in Indian lesbian activism from 1987 to 2008, bookended by the public revelation of two married policewomen in rural India and a Gay Pride parade in central Delhi. Through this narrative, I show how each new shift in activism demands the foreclosure of possibilities and practices that emerged before it. On a reflexive note, I draw a parallel between activism as a fraught, contested undoing and remaking of its very premises and ethnography of activism as entailing the same.

Political Trust, Shocks, and Accountability: Quasi-experimental Evidence from a Rebel Attack

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1693-1723
Author(s):  
Scott Gates ◽  
Mogens K. Justesen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Chance Occurrence

How does armed conflict affect accountability and political trust in democratic governments? To answer this question, we present quasi-experimental evidence based on survey data which, coincidentally, were collected in the days surrounding an unanticipated violent attack by a rebel group in Mali. The chance occurrence of the attack five days into the survey demarcates respondents into two groups surveyed before and after the attack and allows us to examine how the attack affected approval of politicians and trust in political institutions. Our results show that people mainly attribute responsibility to the president and not to parliament or local government, while trust in institutions is largely unaffected. We also show that these effects are strongest in the region of the attack. These findings suggest that voters in new democracies are capable of attributing responsibility to individual politicians and governments while maintaining trust in the fundamental political institutions of democracy.

Managing the COVID-19 pandemic: predictors of trust in institutions in Romania

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Bârgăoanu ◽  
Nicoleta Corbu ◽  
Raluca Buturoiu ◽  
Flavia Durach
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Panel ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Key Factor

PurposeThe paper discusses the predictors of trust in the institutions and people involved in crisis management at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. Trust in institutions might be a key factor in the way countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic deal with the crisis as people might be more willing to accept the restrictions and rules imposed if they trust the key institutions and people involved in managing the pandemic. The paper provides recommendations for key stakeholders to increase trust in people and institutions in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw evidence from a national online panel survey (N = 1,160) to investigate the main predictors of trust in this context.FindingsThe main results indicate that trust in institutions is positively correlated with news consumption and personal discussions about the pandemic, perceived incidence of COVID-19 fake news, belief in conspiracy theories and uncertainty about the future of the country.Originality/valueTo the best of the knowledge, this study is one of the few papers investigating the predictors of trust in the institutions and people involved in managing the current pandemic in a country in the Central and Eastern European region.

scholarly journals Parliamentary Representation and the Normalization of Radical Right Support

2021 ◽  
pp. 001041402199715
Author(s):  
Vicente Valentim
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Mode Study

How do stigmatized political preferences become normalized? I argue that the parliamentary representation of the radical right normalizes radical right support. Radical right politicians breach established social norms. Hence their supporters have an incentive to conceal that support. When the radical right enters parliament, however, its voters are likely to perceive that their views have been legitimized, becoming more likely to display their private preferences. I use three studies to test this argument. Study 1 employs a regression discontinuity comparing the underreport of voting for radical right parties (RRPs) above and below thresholds of parliamentary representation. Study 2 compares how much individuals report liking RRPs in post-electoral surveys depending on interview mode. Study 3 employs a difference-in-differences that looks into the underreport of UKIP vote before and after entering parliament. The results support the argument and highlight the role of political institutions in defining the acceptability of behaviors in society.

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