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While responses to the Covid-19 pandemic varied based on the timing of the onset of cases and the severity of the disease, Perceptions of a Pandemic analyzes and compares the perceptions and attitudes of citizens in the US and Finland during the pandemic’s early stages and relates these to health and wellbeing outcomes after the pandemic ended.
With findings based on rich survey data from 1,500 Americans and 1,500 Finns, this study provides a unique contrast between systems of government, welfare approaches, levels of trust, and other factors that shape the citizenry’s relationship with their government and social institutions across continents. What behaviors – from teleworking to media consumption to mask wearing – changed? What attitudes, such as trust in institutions and confidence in science, patterned these behaviors and any changes that occurred in them? How were these factors reflected in opinions on related policies?
Bridging sociology and public policy, this deeply insightful work challenges us to confront the issues and challenges that we need to consider before the next global health crisis emerges.
Perceptions of a Pandemic is a thorough and systematic exploration, rooted in data, of the events during the first pandemic of the social media era. This book highlights how the internet and social media have changed how a pandemic can be managed and how essential they have become in our daily lives during crises.
James Hawdon is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech.
Donna Sedgwick is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech.
C. Cozette Comer is Evidence Synthesis Services Coordinator at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.
Pekka Räsänen is Professor of Economic Sociology at University Turku, Finland.
Section 1. Understanding Covid: Behaviors, Perceptions, and Solutions
Chapter 1. Perceptions of a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on American and Finnish Societies; James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen
Chapter 2. Planned Behavioral Changes to Mitigate COVID-19’s Effects; James Hawdon
Chapter 3. Which Factors Contributed to the COVID-19 Outbreak to Become a Global Pandemic?; Pekka Räsänen and Aki Koivula
Chapter 4. Public Priorities during a Pandemic: Cross-national Comparisons; C. Cozette Comer
Section 2. Media as a Complicating Factor
Chapter 5. Trust in Experts According to Media Consumption and Government Satisfaction in the U.S. and Finland; Aki Koivula, Eetu Marttila, and Pekka Räsänen
Chapter 6. COVID-19 and the Flames of Hate; James Hawdon
Section 3. COVID-19 and the Public: Well-being, Compliance, and Health Outcomes
Chapter 7. Coping, Wellbeing, and Covid; Donna Sedgwick
Chapter 8. Compliance with Protective Health Behaviors During Covid: Variations over Time and by Country; Donna Sedgwick
Chapter 9. The Pandemic’s Effects in Finland and the United States: The Long-term Consequences of Early Perceptions and Behaviors; James Hawdon and Donna Sedgwick
Section 4. A Look Ahead
Chapter 10. A Look Ahead: How to Better Handle the Next Pandemic and Other Crises; James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen