Covid-19 and the Political Economy of Mass Hysteria

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15465396
AutoresPhilipp Bagus (0000-0002-8233-6629, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, autor de correspondencia), José Antonio Peña‐ramo (0000-0001-7073-9562, Universidad de Granada), Antonio Sánchez‐bayón (0000-0003-4855-8356, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen18
Número4
Páginas1376-1376
Fecha de publicación2021-02-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
EditorialMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph18041376
PMID33546144
OpenAlexW3126723964
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas25
Referencias citadas60

In this article, we aim to develop a political economy of mass hysteria. Using the background of COVID-19, we study past mass hysteria. Negative information which is spread through mass media repetitively can affect public health negatively in the form of nocebo effects and mass hysteria. We argue that mass and digital media in connection with the state may have had adverse consequences during the COVID-19 crisis. The resulting collective hysteria may have contributed to policy errors by governments not in line with health recommendations. While mass hysteria can occur in societies with a minimal state, we show that there exist certain self-corrective mechanisms and limits to the harm inflicted, such as sacrosanct private property rights. However, mass hysteria can be exacerbated and self-reinforcing when the negative information comes from an authoritative source, when the media are politicized, and social networks make the negative information omnipresent. We conclude that the negative long-term effects of mass hysteria are exacerbated by the size of the state

Conversion disorder · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Criminology · Disease · Harm · Hysteria · Mass media · Pathology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Social Psychology · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research