Sustainability and the Social Representation of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Missing Link

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance for countries to preserve a sustainable health system. Unfortunately, the emergency nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to economic and social disasters, putting global health at risk. Thus, through the Social Representation Theory, our aim is to replicate a previous study carried out in Brazil in mid-2020 on how Brazilian society has perceived the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to investigate whether this perception changed almost a year after the publication of the former study. The results show that the perception of Brazilian society about the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil was, at the end of 2021, mainly shaped by the political polarization that existed at the time in the country. Thus, politics and government, social distancing, death, and fear were the categories that composed the central nucleus of the social representation of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, categories such as economy and employment and changes and the new normal were mentioned less. Surprisingly, the sustainability category was practically disregarded by Brazilians, thus constituting a missing link. In this way, with this research, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of this scenario, expanding the understanding of how society’s interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging country such as Brazil has changed over time. Finally, understanding the dynamics of society’s perception of the COVID-19 pandemic can contribute to better planning of local initiatives, both at a managerial and public levels, with the aim of mitigating this and other possible future pandemics in a sustainable way.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Digital Transformation of Workplace: The Social Representation of Home-Office

“…The focus of this research in Brazil is due to the fact that this country has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a large number of deaths and an alarming economic crisis caused by the imposed lockdown [29,30]. Moreover, Brazil is also a prominent emerging country, being a BRIC member and having an important role in the global food supply.…”

The influence of Group Heterogeneity on Mask-Wearing and Epidemic Coevolution: a Coupled Disease-Behavior Model

“…Studies have found Asian populations to be more likely to wear masks in public than white populations (Trevas et al, 2023), and shoppers in urban or suburban areas are four times more likely to wear masks than shoppers in rural areas (Haischer et al, 2020). Indeed, Recent studies have indicated that attitudes and actions towards mask-wearing vary signi cantly among groups with different cultural backgrounds, education levels, or socioeconomic levels, even under the same external conditions, information, or policies (Joia, Michelotto & Lorenzo, 2022). For instance, in collectivist cultures, wearing a mask is often viewed as a civic responsibility to protect the community, leading to higher rates of mask use.…”

Social Representations of COVID-19 Among Brazilian Elderly Women: A Structural Approach

“…A study conducted with Brazilians showed that the genesis of the social representations of the novel ISSN (Digital): 2223-7666 Liberabit, 2022, 28(2), e617 (julio -diciembre) coronavirus is marked by concerns related to its dissemination, psychosocial implications (collective concern about the prevention of COVID-19 and prophylactic care) and affective issues (uncertainty, feelings of fear and despair) (Do Bú et al, 2020). Studies developed by Joia et al (2022) pointed out that politics and government, social distancing, death, and fear made up the central number of social representations of the pandemic among the Brazilians.…”