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Social control and solidarity during the COVID ‐19 pandemic: The direct and indirect effects of causal attribution of insufficient compliance through perceived anomie
Author(s) -
Roblain Antoine,
Gale Jessica,
Abboud Soha,
Arnal Camila,
Bornand Thierry,
Hanioti Mado,
Klein Olivier,
Klein Pit P. L. E.,
Lastrego Simona,
Licata Laurent,
Mora Youri L.,
Nera Kenzo,
Van der Linden Nicolas,
Van Oost Pascaline,
Toma Claudia
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.2600
Subject(s) - anomie , solidarity , attribution , social psychology , prosocial behavior , compliance (psychology) , psychology , social control , social solidarity , social distance , perception , social support , pandemic , voluntarism (philosophy) , social isolation , sociology , political science , covid-19 , medicine , politics , psychiatry , social science , philosophy , disease , epistemology , pathology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
The COVID‐19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity . In the present pre‐registered study, we examine how the perceived non‐compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society ( anomie ). Using data from an online cross‐sectional survey conducted in Belgium in April 2020 ( N = 717), results show that the causal attribution of the crisis to insufficient compliance was differentially associated with support for social control and social solidarity behaviours. Specifically, greater attribution to insufficient compliance was associated with a perceived breakdown in the social fabric (disintegration), which explained stronger support for social control and fewer solidarity‐based actions. Perceived disregulation, conversely, was associated with less support for social control and more support for social solidarity. Therefore, the perception of the pandemic and associated perceived anomie tend to polarize citizens' attitudes towards these two modes of social regulation. In this way, prosocial behaviours might be inhibited by communications that attribute the pandemic's causes to incivility. Other implications of our findings for the social psychological literature on communities' reactions to the pandemic are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement .