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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.
— Pasi Moisio, Research Professor, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland
Perceptions of a Pandemic provides a unique look at how the Covid pandemic unfolded during its early months. The wide-ranging analyses offer us insights into how two cultures handled the pandemic, and the results provide guidance for how to manage health emergencies. The authors manage to say something new about the pandemic, which is hard to do at this point. Perceptions of a Pandemic is a must read for scholars, policy makers, and anyone who is interested in being better prepared for coping with or managing crises.
— Matthew Costello, Associate Professor, Clemson University, U.S.A.
This work illustrates the enduring value of cross-national comparative sociological analysis. It highlights the similarities and differences between the United States and Finland and then leverages these to examine how the structural features of each country are related to their response to a common exogenous shock: the COVID-19 pandemic. This approach makes a valuable contribution to the literature that goes beyond a single historical event to demonstrate the importance of comparative work for a wide range of topics.
— James Witte, Professor, George Mason University, U.S.A.
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