War Metaphors (What Are They Good For?): Militarized Rhetoric and Attitudes Toward Essential Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders and society at large invoked militarized rhetoric and war metaphors to elevate essential workers and inspire collective action. Using a survey experiment we investigate whether this type of framing affects public views about (1) individual responsibilities, (2) targeted polices, and (3) perceptions of those called heroes and soldiers. We find that the war metaphor has minimal effects on public attitudes toward policies and individual actions in response to the pandemic. Framing the response in militaristic terms does, however, appear to affect perceptions of essential workers. Counter to our hypotheses, subjects who saw essential workers called heroes or soldiers viewed them as more motivated by compensation rather than service, and expressed less respect for them, than respondents in the control. These findings, including the nulls, make important contributions to our understanding of the limits of framing effects in a polarized context.

War Metaphors (What Are They Good For?): Militarized Rhetoric and Attitudes Toward Essential Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders and society at large invoked militarized rhetoric and war metaphors to elevate essential workers and inspire collective action. Using a survey experiment we investigate whether this type of framing affects public views about (1) individual responsibilities, (2) targeted polices, and (3) perceptions of those called heroes and soldiers. We find that the war metaphor has minimal effects on public attitudes toward policies and individual actions in response to the pandemic. Framing the response in militaristic terms does, however, appear to affect perceptions of essential workers. Counter to our hypotheses, subjects who saw essential workers called heroes or soldiers viewed them as more motivated by compensation rather than service, and expressed less respect for them, than respondents in the control. These findings, including the nulls, make important contributions to our understanding of the limits of framing effects in a polarized context. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of American Politics Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)