A social psychological investigation of community sentiment toward COVID-19 mitigation policies in the justice system

The COVID-19 pandemic led to many policy changes across the U.S. justice system that aimed to reduce the spread of the deadly virus. The present dissertation provides novel insights into community sentiment toward justice system COVID-19 mitigation policies such as the early release of prisoners, the pretrial release of defendants, the suspension of fines and fees, and the prioritization of prisoner vaccination. Using a student sample (study 1) and a demographically-representative U.S. community sample (study 2), this dissertation found that political conservatism was negatively associated with support for justice system COVID-19 mitigation policies across both samples. Prison reform attitudes and COVID-19 anxiety were also positively associated with support for justice system mitigation policies in the community sample. In addition to exploring direct relationships, this research examined mechanisms between political conservatism and support for justice system COVID-19 mitigation policies. The results provide evidence that people high in political conservatism show low support for justice system COVID-19 mitigation policies because of authoritarian attitudes and their moral disengagement from those in the justice system. The results of this research contribute to the growing literature on how individual differences can affect COVID-19 pandemic-related attitudes. They also provide policymakers with an idea of how to tailor a more effective public health strategy to promote the welfare of one of the most vulnerable populations to public health crises - those involved in the justice system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

‘Power besieged and power protected': Conservative uses of COVID-19 to attack Black Lives Matter

This essay discusses uses of COVID-19 by American conservatives to attack the legitimacy of demonstrations against racial injustice in the United States following the murder of George Floyd. The essay considers the conflation of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter in journalism published by conservative media organization The Daily Wire, situating its reportage within a tradi-tion of conservative movement racial politics from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump. During summer 2020, conservative responses to COVID-19 expanded the discursive spheres in which racialized conflict played out, exemplifying the diffuse and pervasive nature of White backlash politics in contemporary movement conservatism and the continuity of that discourse with patterns established during earlier periods of civil rights struggle. After Floyd's murder, conservative voices utilized COVID-19 as a racialized wedge, dividing those Americans characterized as authentic and deserving citizens from civil rights protestors and their supporters whose actions were presented as subversive of the legitimate body politic. The essay shows how these treatments of COVID-19 sit within conservative ‘dog whistle' traditions of the later twentieth century – massaging White resentments without appearing to talk explicitly about race – while simul-taneously, in a rhetoric characteristic of the post-Tea Party alt-Right, openly disclosing the politics of racial polarization and exclusion such traditions were once intended to obfuscate or encode. © 2023 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

Dual Evolutionary Foundations of Political Ideology Predict Divergent Responses to COVID-19

Political conservatives' opposition to COVID-19 restrictions is puzzling given the well-documented links between conservatism and conformity, threat sensitivity, and pathogen aversion. We propose a resolution based on the Dual Foundations Theory of ideology, which holds that ideology comprises two dimensions, one reflecting trade-offs between threat-driven conformity and individualism, and another reflecting trade-offs between empathy-driven cooperation and competition. We test predictions derived from this theory in a UK sample using individuals' responses to COVID-19 and widely-used measures of the two dimensions - 'right-wing authoritarianism' (RWA) and 'social dominance orientation' (SDO), respectively. Consistent with our predictions, we show that RWA, but not SDO, increased following the pandemic and that high-RWA conservatives do display more concerned, conformist, pro-lockdown attitudes, while high-SDO conservatives display less empathic, cooperative attitudes and are anti-lockdown. This helps explain paradoxical prior results and highlights how a focus on unidimensional ideology can mask divergent motives across the ideological landscape.

The politics of civil society narratives in contestation between liberalism and nationalism in authoritarian Vietnam

The liberal-dominated civil society theory tends to obscure the dynamics and intricacy of state-society relations in authoritarian contexts. Existing accounts on Vietnam have not cast adequate light onto the struggles of ideology and positions between the state and civil society. Drawing on the most recent data from social media in Vietnam, the article contributes a new analytical approach to understanding state-society relations by offering granular insights into the contrasting but mutually reinforcing narratives adopted by the state and civil society actors. In particular, the article steers attention towards the opportunities that crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have provided for ideological struggles and legitimacy building between these actors. The paper argues that rather than continuously pushing forward the rhetoric 'civic space is shrinking', these alternatives must be steeped within wider historical understanding, attuned to particularities of the social-political context, and ultimately reflective of the evolving intricate state-society relations. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Contemporary Politics is the property of Routledge 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.)

Complementary or Competing Frames? The Impact of Economic and Public Health Messages on COVID-19 Attitudes

The American reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic is polarized, with conservatives often less willing to engage in risk-mitigation strategies such as mask-wearing and vaccination. COVID-19 narratives are also polarized, as some conservative elites focus on the economy over public health. In this registered report, we test whether combining economic and public health messages can persuade individuals to increase support for COVID-19 risk mitigation. We present preliminary evidence that the combination of messages is complementary, rather than competing or polarizing. When given a message emphasizing COVID-19's negative health and economic effects in a pilot study, conservatives increased their support for a broad range of risk-mitigation strategies, while liberals maintained high levels of support. A preregistered larger-n follow-up study, however, failed to replicate this effect. While complementary frames may be a promising way to persuade voters on some issues, they may also struggle to overcome high levels of existing polarization.

How the pandemic affected Filipinx Americans: Analysis on enculturation levels, health care work, and mental health outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous adverse mental health effects and subsequent disparities for many both in the United States and worldwide, which have been exacerbated in underrepresented and minoritized populations in the United States. The Filipinx American population makes up 4% of registered nurses in the United States, and more than half of the registered nurses of color who have died were FilAms. Given this disproportionate COVID-19 impact on the FilAm community, there is a need for disaggregated data of the diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. In our sample of 332 FilAms, we explored the relationships between the levels of enculturation, COVID-19 traumatic stress, and depression and anxiety. We found significant high levels of depression and anxiety within our sample. Multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the relationship between dimensions of enculturation (connection to homeland, interpersonal norms, conservatism) and mental health outcomes. Results indicated significant associations between COVID-19 fears and connection to homeland and interpersonal norms, and traumatic economic stress and isolation and disturbed routine with interpersonal norms. However, we found significant indirect relationships between conservatism and two dimensions of the COVID-19 traumatic stress (COVID-19 fears and isolation and disturbed routine). Results also predicted positive associations between interpersonal norms with depression and anxiety, but an indirect relationship with conservatism. This study underscores the importance of disaggregated AAPI health data and addressing the needs of the underrepresented FilAm community. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement The findings of this study have theoretical and applied implications with regard to how community leaders, clinicians, and researchers decrease the gaps in health disparities and identify potential risk factors to increase well-being for Filipinx Americans. Aside from providing major contributions to the discipline of psychology, we hope that our findings will lead to advocacy work in disaggregating data for Asian Americans and subsequent development of public health policies to address mental health concerns for Filipinx Americans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Predicting the financial behavior of Indian salaried-class individuals

COVID-19 has caused not only unprecedented health crises but also economic crises among individuals across the world. White-collar (salaried-class) employees with a fixed salary face financial insecurity due to job loss, pay cuts and uncertainty in retaining a job. This study examines the financial behavior of Indian white-collar salariedclass investors to their cognitive biases. In addition, the mediating effect of financial self-efficacy on cognitive biases and financial behavior is examined. Respondents were given structured questionnaires (google forms) through emails and WhatsApp for data collection. SPSS and R-PLS are used to analyze the data. Conservatism (r = -.603, p < 0.05) and herding bias (r = -.703, p < 0.05) have a significant negative correlation with financial behavior. Financial self-efficacy has a significant positive correlation (r =.621. p < 0.050). Conservatism and herding predicted 60.5% and 62.2% of the variance, respectively. The direct and indirect paths between conservatism bias, financial self-efficacy, and financial behavior are significant. The paths between herding, financial self-efficacy and financial behavior are also significant. © Ankita Mulasi, Jain Mathew, Kavitha Desai, 2022.

Crisis, Rhetoric and Right-Wing Populist Incumbency: An Analysis of Donald Trump's Tweets and Press Briefings

How do right-wing-populist incumbents navigate rhetorical strategic choices when they seek to manage external crises? Relevant literature has paid increasing attention to the role of ‘crisis' in boosting the electoral success of right-wing populist candidates. We know a lot less about the rhetorical strategies used by right-wing populist incumbents seeking re-election. We draw on literatures on populism, crisis management and political rhetoric to conceptualize the rhetorical strategic choices of right-wing populist incumbents in times of crisis. We propose a framework for the choice of rhetorical strategy available to right-wing populist incumbents and illustrate it with a qualitative content analysis of Trump's tweets and White House press briefings during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find limited rhetorical adaptation to crisis and high degrees of continuity with previous rhetoric grounded in right-wing populism. This challenges prevalent assumptions regarding the likelihood of incumbent rhetorical flexibility in the face of crisis.

How political identity influences COVID-19 risk perception: A model of identity-based risk perception

Past research suggests that conservatives are usually more threat-sensitive than liberals are. Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic, conservatives consistently underestimated the risk from the virus. To reconcile this paradox, we introduce a model of identity-based risk perception (IRP). This model posits that risk perceptions depend not only on objective risk but also on people's political identity and whether the risk pertains to their group identity (group risk) versus individual identity (individual risk). When asked about the group risk posed by a threat ("How many Americans will die of COVID-19?"), conservatives focus on their national pride and underestimate the risk of contracting the virus compared to liberals. However, when asked about individual risk from the same threat ("What is the probability of an individual dying of COVID-19?"), conservatives focus on individual mortality threat and overestimate the risk of succumbing to the virus compared to liberals. Three national surveys support the IRP model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Politics, promotions, and pandemics: Political ideologies shape consumers' responses to framed versus unframed brand logos and COVID-19 recommendations

This research examines how exposing conservative (vs. liberal) consumers to a framed logo improves their evaluation of the promoted brand relative to seeing an unframed version of that logo. A core effect reveals that framed, but not unframed, logos generally elicit more favorable product purchase intentions as conservativism increases. Such an effect is theorized to occur because framed stimuli are symbolically aligned with a need for structure that is typically associated with conservatism. Consistent with this possibility, liberals who are primed to think about structure exhibit responses similar to those made by conservatives (i.e., more favorable evaluations of framed logos). The effect observed among conservatives is eliminated, however, when frames are viewed as restrictions on freedom. The implications of these findings are also extended to examine whether framing messages that endorse governmental recommendations to adopt COVID-curbing behavior influences how conservatives respond to these advocacies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Parochial Altruism and Political Ideology

Parochial altruism refers to the propensity to direct prosocial behavior toward members of one's own ingroup to a greater extent than toward those outside one's group. Both theory and empirical research suggest that parochialism may be linked to political ideology, with conservatives more likely than liberals to exhibit ingroup bias in altruistic behavior. The present study, conducted in the United States and Italy, tested this relationship in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, assessing willingness to contribute money to charities at different levels of inclusiveness—local versus national versus international. Results indicated that conservatives contributed less money overall and were more likely to limit their contribution to the local charity while liberals were significantly more likely to contribute to national and international charities, exhibiting less parochialism. Conservatives and liberals also differed in social identification and trust, with conservatives higher in social identity and trust at the local and national levels and liberals higher in global social identity and trust in global others. Differences in global social identity partially accounted for the effects of political ideology on donations.

Conditional Conservatism in Islamic Banks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study explores conditional conservatism (CC) in listed Islamic banks (IB) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author collects data manually over the period from 2019 to 2020. In order to capture CC, the author uses the C_score measurement in the main model. As predicted, the author finds an increase in CC level within IB during the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding enriches the current literature on CC, IB, and the economic outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, decision-makers (investors, creditors, etc.) can benefit from the governance role of CC experienced in IB during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Leveraging moral foundations to increase COVID-19 vaccination

Despite the vast majority of the eligible U.S. adult population being vaccinated against COVID-19, geographical clusters of unvaccinated individuals pose a substantial risk of outbreak. It is important to encourage as many individuals as possible to vaccinate against COVID-19 to reduce its spread and severity. Past research has identified endorsement of the purity and liberty moral foundations-intuitive domains of moral concern-as predictors of vaccine hesitancy and political conservatism, while conservatism is itself associated with vaccine hesitancy. Across two online surveys, I examined the effects of a message invoking the purity and liberty foundations as well as the effects of a message modified from the CDC's website attempting to debunk myths about COVID-19 vaccines on intentions to receive a COVID-19 vaccine among individuals who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine. I hypothesized that the foundations-based message would significantly increase intentions relative to a control condition, particularly among those who score high on the purity and liberty foundations and those who are likely to do so (i.e., conservatives) by increasing the perception that the message source is a member of their ingroup, that COVID-19 violates values shared by ingroup members and is therefore harmful, and that COVID-19 vaccines can protect and uphold these values. I hypothesized that the myths and facts message would not increase intentions. Contrary to hypotheses, neither the foundation-based message nor the myths and facts message increased COVID-19 vaccination intentions. However, as hypothesized, perceptions of source ingroup membership, endorsement of the purity and liberty foundations, perceptions that COVID-19 violates these foundations, perceptions that COVID-19 is harmful, and perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccination all predicted vaccination intentions, particularly among conservatives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Is the myth of left-wing authoritarianism itself a myth?

Is left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) closer to a myth or a reality? Twelve studies test the empirical existence and theoretical relevance of LWA. Study 1 reveals that both conservative and liberal Americans identify a large number of left-wing authoritarians in their lives. In Study 2, participants explicitly rate items from a recently-developed LWA measure as valid measurements of authoritarianism. Studies 3-11 show that persons who score high on this same LWA scale possess the traits associated with models of authoritarianism: LWA is positively related to threat sensitivity across multiple areas, including general ecological threats (Study 3), COVID disease threat (Study 4), Belief in a Dangerous World (Study 5), and Trump threat (Study 6). Further, high-LWA persons show more support for restrictive political correctness norms (Study 7), rate African-Americans and Jews more negatively (Studies 8-9), and show more cognitive rigidity (Studies 10 and 11). These effects hold when controlling for political ideology and when looking only within liberals, and further are similar in magnitude to comparable effects for right-wing authoritarianism. Study 12 uses the World Values Survey to provide cross-cultural evidence of Left-Wing Authoritarianism around the globe. Taken in total, this large array of triangulating evidence from 12 studies comprised of over 8,000 participants from the U.S. and over 66,000 participants world-wide strongly suggests that left-wing authoritarianism is much closer to a reality than a myth.

How did Covid-19 affect investors' interpretation of earnings news? The role of accounting conservatism

We examine how investors interpreted earnings news when the Covid-19 pandemic began. We argue the pandemic made investors unsure about the earnings news' reliability and valuation implications. We compare earnings announcements in early 2020 to those between 2015 and 2019. During Covid, earnings news significantly increased (decreased) post-announcement abnormal volatility (returns), consistent with investors' struggling to price the news. However, we find that Covid did not have such an effect on firms that had priorly established a reputation for conservative accounting. This suggests that conservatism, whose information effects have been debated by prior literature, alleviated investors' concerns during the pandemic. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Entre la familia y el mercado: pobreza femenina en un programa de asistencia social en Chile

En este texto se presentan los resultados de una investigación cualitativa y documental, que tuvo como propósito indagar acerca de las denominadas problematizaciones sobre la pobreza en un corpus discursivo del programa gubernamental de asistencia Chile Seguridades y Oportunidades. Se trazaron los modos en que la pobreza se construye en cuanto problema de gobierno. Se recolectó y analizó un corpus natural elaborado en el marco de la creación de esta política pública, compuesto por el programa de gobierno, los mensajes presidenciales y las discusiones de senadores y diputados. Los resultados indican que la problematización de la pobreza se construye mediante un discurso en el que se articulan la retórica empresarial y la conservadora;así el problema no radica en el modelo económico, sino en la dependencia que tienen los sujetos del Estado y, en el caso específico de las mujeres, en una crisis de los valores y de la familia. ¿La consecuencia lógica?: la propuesta de un sujeto emprendedor habilitado por el Estado para habitar las "fuerzas de la libertad" empresarial, a través de una serie de técnicas individualizantes como el emprendimiento. Se concluye que la producción de una tecnología de gobierno basada en el cruce de un férreo neoliberalismo y un nuevo conservadurismo social reproduce la clásica división sexual del trabajo en un esquema empresarial.Alternate :This study presents the results of qualitative and documentary research that aimed to explore the so-called problematization of poverty in the discursive corpus of the Chilean government welfare program Seguridades y Oportunidades. Modes in which poverty is constituted as a problem of governance were traced. A corpus that was elaborated by the government in the frame of the creation of this public policy was collected and analyzed, including presidential messages and debates among senators and deputies. The results indicate that the problematization of poverty is constituted through a discourse in which business rhetoric and conservative rhetoric articulate;thus, the problem is not rooted in the economic model but rather in the dependence of subjects on the state and, in the specific case of women, in the crisis of values and the family. What is the logical consequence? The proposal for an entrepreneurial subject enabled by the state to inhabit the entrepreneurial "forces of liberty" through a series of individualizing techniques like entrepreneurialism. It is concluded that the production of a government technology based on the cross of a fierce neoliberalism and a new social conservatism reproduces the classic sexual division of labor within an entrepreneurial scheme.

Between clamor, transition and vibrations: Controversies of conservatism and the brazilian religious domain in the context of COVID-19

In this article, the authors have developed a reflection based on the analysis of messages exchanged within WhatsApp groups, linked to institutional and noninstitutional religious narratives regarding COVID-19. The analysed messages were collated between April and May 2020, during the initial period of the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil. The authors discuss the presence and the new guises of a conservative tone in the selected narratives, with the objective of considering some specificities and contradictions that the Brazilian religious domain, particularly with regard to the conservative tone, presented in this very specific context of modernity. Consequently, theoretical results pointed to the insufficiency of the term "conservatism" to express what was observed in the messages.

Radicalizing moral conservatism in herd immunity during COVID-19.

The concept of herd immunity during the coronavirus disease 2019 is constantly changing. The World Health Organization's current focus is on vaccination. With ties to the bioethics of autonomy and exemptions to mandatory vaccinations, the problem is that moral conservatism tends not to cooperate in the rollouts. Radical means can be applied not just to the concept but also its application, emphasizing the need to depart from conservative hindrances to public health.

Bolsonarismo e as eleições de 2022

The article analyzes the ideological components, based on preferences of political issues, of the voter who supports Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonarism is a right-wing electoral alignment in Brazil, strongly associated with dimensions of a conservative agenda, including a tough-minded vision in the fight against crime, strong culturalist reaction to progressive gender politics, economic liberalism, rejection of social inclusion policies based on quotas and reticence regarding cash transfer policies. More recently, Bolsonarism incorporated denialism in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, adherence to conspiracy theories and an option for anti-democratic alternatives. We tested this alignment using data from the Cara da Democracia series of public opinion surveys for the years 2018 to 2022. © 2022, Estudos Avancados. All Rights Reserved.