Who Believes in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in Croatia? Prevalence and Predictors of Conspiracy Beliefs

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to numerous new conspiracy theories related to the virus. This study aimed to investigate a range of individual predictors of beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories that account for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, economic standard, the importance of religion, and political self-identification), distinctive motivational orientations (social dominance and authoritarianism), relevant social attitudes (sense of political powerlessness and trust in science and scientists), and perceived personal risk (perceived risk for self and family members, the concern of being infected, and the expected influence of pandemic on the economic standard of an individual). Participants were 1,060 adults recruited from the general public of Croatia. The sample was a probabilistic quota sample with gender, age, level of education, size of the dwelling, and region of the country as predetermined quotas. The regression model explained 42.2% of the individual differences in beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Trust in science and scientists and political powerlessness were the strongest predictors, whereas fear of being infected had the weakest contribution in explaining the variance of the criterion. Additionally, results revealed that the relation of conventionalism (as a proxy of authoritarianism) with belief in COVID-19 conspiracies was mediated by trust in science and scientists. The relation between social dominance and belief in conspiracies was also partially mediated by trust in science. The results suggest that (re)building trust in science and lowering the sense of political helplessness might help in fighting potentially harmful false beliefs about the pandemic.

9 Art. 8 GG: Freedom of Assembly

This chapter discusses the provisions of Art. 8 of the Grundgesetz (GG) with regard to the fundamental right of freedom of assembly. It begins by reviewing the Federal Constitutional Court's first landmark decision on freedom of assembly in 1985, in which it emphasised the importance of the process of political will formation and the right of citizens to free assembly through demonstrations, noting that ‘the unhindered exercise of this freedom counteracts the consciousness of political powerlessness and dangerous tendencies of disgruntlement with the state and its institutions’. The chapter also examines the Court's jurisprudence concerning the scope of protection for the right of freedom of assembly, focussing on issues such as peacefulness in sit-in protests and the constitutionality of the registration requirement for rapidly organized assemblies. It concludes with an analysis of the question of interference with the right of freedom of assembly, along with the constitutional justification of such interferences.

Residualization and Council Housing: Aspects of the Changing Social Relations of Housing Tenure

It is commonly argued that council housing in Britain is becoming a residual service. This paper explores the various dimensions of residualization such as the size of the council house sector, the quality of the service, the characteristics of tenants and the nature of the stock. Whilst changes in these areas are significant it is suggested that we must look beyond housing processes to fully understand the downgrading of council housing. Specifically it is argued that explanations must take account of questions of economic and political powerlessness, the marginalization of certain sections of the working class from the labour market and the uneven impact of the recession.

From Economism to Democratic Commitment: The Role of Worker Participation

This article reports relationship between work-related satisfaction and some important indicators of democratic commitment among the worker representatives on shop floor joint committees. Six measures—influence and autonomy, amenities at the work place, trust, job satisfaction, supervisory behaviour, and friendship on. work—were identified as measures of work-related satisfaction. Misanthropy, sense of political powerlessness, and sense of political normlessness were identified as indicators of low democratic commitment. The analysis revealed that supervisory behaviour and friendship on work are significant predictors of misanthropy, and influence and autonomy are the predictors of powerlessness and normlessness. The results have been examined in the context of programme of worker participation. The article suggests that participation is likely to produce a dent in misanthropy, powerlessness, and normlessness by increasing worker satisfaction with influence, autonomy, and interpersonal relations.