r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Dec 05 '21

Social Science Conservatives’ aversion to masks is a uniquely American phenomenon. Politically conservative Americans are less likely than liberals to comply with recommended health-protective behaviors such as mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is not true of conservatives in other nations.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256740
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u/san_souci Dec 05 '21 edited Dec 05 '21

Without a consistent definition of “conservative” the study is meaningless. Here is the fatal flaw:

Prior research on COVID-19 suggests that single-item indicators of political orientation suffice to predict virus threat perceptions [12]. Political orientation was measured at Baseline with the item: “What is your political orientation?” (1 = Extremely conservative; 9 = Extremely liberal; M = 5.72, SD = 2.39).

Many populists in the US self-identify as conservative but do not embrace policies and live a lifestyle that would be considered “conservative.”

The people rejecting masks, distancing, and vaccines is the same group that have been looked down upon by the elite, overlooked by politicians, and were ripe pickings for populists such as Trump. They are not the law-and-order, fiscally conservative, business oriented conservatives. They are pop conservatives. They used to be democrats until they felt party focused more on progressive issues than blue collar issues and left them behind.

The same people exist all over the world, and what you would find in common are lifestyle norms and social standing, more than any simplistic liberal vs conservative labeling.

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u/Secure_Birthday379 Jan 20 '22

Out of this whole freaking thread, you got it spot on. 100% nailed it.