1. How do people support each other in emergencies? A qualitative exploration of altruistic and prosocial behaviours during the COVID‐19 pandemic
- Author
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Monica Sager, Özden Melis Uluğ, Audrey Bushey, Yawen Deng, and Selin Tekin
- Subjects
marginalized communities ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,pandemic ,media_common.quotation_subject ,General Social Sciences ,Original Articles ,gratitude ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Altruism ,allyship ,altruism ,Prosocial behavior ,prosocial behavior ,Community support ,Gratitude ,Pandemic ,Original Article ,community support ,Psychology ,Social psychology ,media_common - Abstract
The Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies in the United States has compiled altruistic stories from different countries such as India, Australia, the United States, and England since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We examined those stories to understand (1) who receives the most support, (2) what type of support is provided, (3) who those supporters are, and (4) why people support each other during the pandemic. Conducting a qualitative content analysis of 104 altruistic stories, we first identified that (a) older individuals , (b) people with sensitive health conditions, and disabilities, (c) frontline workers, and (d) working class and marginalized communities received the primary support. Second, we identified three types of support: (a) material, (b) social/emotional, and (c) psychological. Third, we found that support was coming from (a) different organizations, (b) advantaged groups, and (c) volunteers. Last, (a) sharing a community/humanity identity, (b) allyship, and (c) showing gratitude were the reasons behind altruistic and prosocial behavior. Our findings contribute to the literature by providing some possible reasons and ways that allies have supported disadvantaged communities via sharing the available resources and how showing gratitude can be a reason for altruism and prosocial behavior in a pandemic.
- Published
- 2021