Making Community Beliefs and Capacities Visible Through Care-mongering During COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic brought forth wide-ranging, unanticipated changes in human interaction, as communities rushed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In response, local geographic community members created grassroots care-mongering groups on social media to facilitate acts of kindness, otherwise known as care-mongering. In this paper, we are interested in understanding the types of care-mongering that take place and how such care-mongering might contribute to community collective efficacy (CCE) and community resilience during a long-haul global pandemic. We conducted a content analysis of a care-mongering group on Facebook to understand how local community members innovated and developed care-mongering practices online. We observed three facets of care-mongering: showing appreciation for helpers, coming up with ways of supporting one another's needs, and continuing social interactions online and present design recommendations for further augmenting care-mongering practices for local disaster relief in online groups.

Urbanization and the organization of territorial cohesion – results from a comparative Danish case-study on territorial inequality and social cohesion

PurposeThere is a growing importance for public facilitation of corporate social responsibility and involvement of civil organizations in securing territorial cohesion and development. In the present article, the authors focus on how we are to understand a locally sensitive organization of territorial cohesion in the Danish context. Traditional sociological concepts and standardized area-types used for administrative purposes have turned out not being very helpful in understanding the interrelation between inequality, urbanization and territorial cohesion. The authors argue for a processual and relational approach to urbanization.Design/methodology/approachThe present article is based on interview material and policy documents from three Danish case studies representing urban, suburban and rural forms of settlement. The case studies are part of a cross-European research project.FindingsThe authors show how territorial governance play a key role in the strategies of densification/de-densification facilitating shielding capacities of collective efficacy, and reversely that bottom-up innovations are crucial for the ability of territorial governance to mobilize territorial capital and mediate in effects of territorial inequality. Spatial imaginaries legitimize these efforts to organize cohesion. The spatial imaginaries work as common frame of references for the interplay between strategies of (de)densification and collective efficacy, and they activate particular balances between growth agendas and everyday life.Originality/valueThese findings represent an original perspective on how and why urbanization impact on places in a more specific and variated way than often portrayed as it highlight how social capacities tied to place might work with or against existing social, economic and cultural structures shaping territorial cohesion.

Support for the Ecological Framework for Understanding Multiracial Identity using Latent Profile Analysis

The current study presents a statistical model of the roles of racial identity, racial identification, and racial category under the ecological framework for understanding multiracial identity. The purposes of this study were threefold: (1) to identify distinct profiles of how multiracials understand their racial identity using latent profile analysis; (2) to investigate whether racial identification variables predicted profile membership; and (3) to examine whether profile membership differentiated multiracials across racial category and adjustment outcomes. Using a sample of 269 multiracial adults (77% female, Mage = 23.10) recruited from a southwestern university in 2018, we identified three profiles of racial identity orientations: Singular-oriented (9%; n = 23), Border-oriented (45%; n = 120), and Protean-oriented (47%; n = 126). The Singular-oriented profile was characterized by the highest level of racial distance, and the lowest levels of multiracial pride, challenges with racial identity, and creating a third space. The Border-oriented profile was characterized by the lowest level of racial distance, and the highest level of multiracial pride. The Protean-oriented profile was characterized by the highest levels of racial conflict, challenges with racial identity, and shifting racial expressions. Several racial identification variables significantly predicted profile membership, including gender, Black racial heritage, and perceived racial ambiguity. Furthermore, the three racial identity profiles predicted variation in racial typology choices, proximity to whiteness, distress, collective efficacy, and sense of belonging. These findings attest to the importance of using person-centered techniques to empirically support the ecological framework for understanding multiracial identity.

Social capital dimensions are differentially associated with COVID-19 vaccinations, masks, and physical distancing

Background Social capital has been associated with health outcomes in communities and can explain variations in different geographic localities. Social capital has also been associated with behaviors that promote better health and reduce the impacts of diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, face masking, and vaccination have all been essential in controlling contagion. These behaviors have not been uniformly adopted by communities in the United States. Using different facets of social capital to explain the differences in public behaviors among communities during pandemics is lacking. Objective This study examines the relationship among public health behavior—vaccination, face masking, and physical distancing—during COVID-19 pandemic and social capital indices in counties in the United States. Methods We used publicly available vaccination data as of June 2021, face masking data in July 2020, and mobility data from mobile phones movements from the end of March 2020. Then, correlation analysis was conducted with county-level social capital index and its subindices (family unity, community health, institutional health, and collective efficacy) that were obtained from the Social Capital Project by the United States Senate. Results We found the social capital index and its subindices differentially correlate with different public health behaviors. Vaccination is associated with institutional health: positively with fully vaccinated population and negatively with vaccination hesitancy. Also, wearing masks negatively associates with community health, whereases reduced mobility associates with better community health. Further, residential mobility positively associates with family unity. By comparing correlation coefficients, we find that social capital and its subindices have largest effect sizes on vaccination and residential mobility. Conclusion Our results show that different facets of social capital are significantly associated with adoption of protective behaviors, e.g., social distancing, face masking, and vaccination. As such, our results suggest that differential facets of social capital imply a Swiss cheese model of pandemic control planning where, e.g., institutional health and community health, provide partially overlapping behavioral benefits.