Distinction through distancing
Norm formation and enforcement during the Covid-19 pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4594890 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katie Holstein Mercer (0000-0002-1513-4461, University of Colorado Boulder), Mollborn (0000-0002-6683-9146, Stockholm University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 338 |
| Pages | 116334 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116334 |
| PMID | 37866175 |
| OpenAlex | W4387676115 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 30 |
The unequal spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by disparities in adherence to social distancing. Research is needed on social processes that facilitated widespread adherence to distancing, how they connected with existing resource access and belief systems, and how they potentially strengthened intergroup boundaries. We integrated insights from research on social norms and cultural capital to analyze early pandemic (April-August 2020) qualitative interviews with parents and their teenage children in two higher-resource communities in the United States. Our findings uncovered four interrelated processes that facilitated the rapid establishment of norms around distancing, concurrently strengthening group boundaries. Community members: 1) drew on existing cultural capital to smooth the establishment of new social norms, 2) associated social distancing with individual moral worth and community identity, 3) applied double standards that granted certain exceptions to ingroup members to maintain social cohesion, and 4) drew strong distinctions between their own and outsiders' social distancing behaviors and moral worth. Our findings articulate social processes that allowed for rapid cohesion around distancing and show how these mechanisms strengthened existing community social boundaries
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Distancing · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Social capital · Social distance · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |