Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

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Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic. / Stürmer, Stefan; Rohmann, Anette; Mazziotta, Agostino et al.
in: Political Psychology, Jahrgang 38, Nr. 3, 06.2017, S. 499-513.

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

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Stürmer S, Rohmann A, Mazziotta A, Siem B, Barbarino ML. Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic. Political Psychology. 2017 Jun;38(3):499-513. doi: 10.1111/pops.12354

Bibtex

@article{1de672a7d5254a07bd417f3ff3fe10bd,
title = "Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic",
abstract = "Public discourse in Western countries on the 2014 Ebola epidemic provided a unique natural opportunity to study the relationship between a disease's sociocultural representation and health policy support. Our main prediction stated that among Western citizens, support for restrictive health policies (e.g., mandatory quarantining) would be determined more through preexisting prejudice towards African immigrants than fears of Ebola infection. A questionnaire study with time-lagged measurement of predictor and criterion variables employing a German sample (N = 218) that was heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, profession, political orientation, and income level provided clear support for this assumption. Although variables related to fear-of-infection were significant predictors, prejudice-related variables explained several times more variance in participants{\textquoteright} support for restrictive policies. Moreover, the degree to which participants adopted prevalent beliefs regarding the sociocultural origins of Ebola (e.g., eating bushmeat) further intensified the impact of prejudice-related variables.",
keywords = "Ebola, health policies support, social representation, symbolic prejudice, Social Work and Social Pedagogics",
author = "Stefan St{\"u}rmer and Anette Rohmann and Agostino Mazziotta and Birte Siem and Barbarino, {Maria Luisa}",
year = "2017",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1111/pops.12354",
language = "English",
volume = "38",
pages = "499--513",
journal = "Political Psychology",
issn = "0162-895X",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fear of Infection or Justification of Social Exclusion? The Symbolic Exploitation of the Ebola Epidemic

AU - Stürmer, Stefan

AU - Rohmann, Anette

AU - Mazziotta, Agostino

AU - Siem, Birte

AU - Barbarino, Maria Luisa

PY - 2017/6

Y1 - 2017/6

N2 - Public discourse in Western countries on the 2014 Ebola epidemic provided a unique natural opportunity to study the relationship between a disease's sociocultural representation and health policy support. Our main prediction stated that among Western citizens, support for restrictive health policies (e.g., mandatory quarantining) would be determined more through preexisting prejudice towards African immigrants than fears of Ebola infection. A questionnaire study with time-lagged measurement of predictor and criterion variables employing a German sample (N = 218) that was heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, profession, political orientation, and income level provided clear support for this assumption. Although variables related to fear-of-infection were significant predictors, prejudice-related variables explained several times more variance in participants’ support for restrictive policies. Moreover, the degree to which participants adopted prevalent beliefs regarding the sociocultural origins of Ebola (e.g., eating bushmeat) further intensified the impact of prejudice-related variables.

AB - Public discourse in Western countries on the 2014 Ebola epidemic provided a unique natural opportunity to study the relationship between a disease's sociocultural representation and health policy support. Our main prediction stated that among Western citizens, support for restrictive health policies (e.g., mandatory quarantining) would be determined more through preexisting prejudice towards African immigrants than fears of Ebola infection. A questionnaire study with time-lagged measurement of predictor and criterion variables employing a German sample (N = 218) that was heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, profession, political orientation, and income level provided clear support for this assumption. Although variables related to fear-of-infection were significant predictors, prejudice-related variables explained several times more variance in participants’ support for restrictive policies. Moreover, the degree to which participants adopted prevalent beliefs regarding the sociocultural origins of Ebola (e.g., eating bushmeat) further intensified the impact of prejudice-related variables.

KW - Ebola

KW - health policies support

KW - social representation

KW - symbolic prejudice

KW - Social Work and Social Pedagogics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978208323&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/pops.12354

DO - 10.1111/pops.12354

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84978208323

VL - 38

SP - 499

EP - 513

JO - Political Psychology

JF - Political Psychology

SN - 0162-895X

IS - 3

ER -

DOI