Work

The Politics of Vaccine Hesitancy: An Ideological Dual-Process Approach

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Ideological convictions are known to shape attitudes and behaviour in various life domains. Based on existing psychological analyses of political ideology, we use an ideological dual-process approach to explain people’s vaccine hesitancy, in which distinguish between authoritarian (RWA) and hierarchical (SDO) facets of conservatism as potential antecedents of vaccination attitudes. In a large international study performed in Germany (N = 1210), Poland (N = 1209), and the United Kingdom (N = 1222), we tested the roles of SDO and RWA in predicting vaccination hesitancy, as well as cross-cultural universality of the the pattern of relationships between political ideologies and attitudes toward vaccines. In all three countries, high SDO was associated with higher vaccine hesitancy, whereas high RWA was associated with lower vaccine hesitancy. These findings contribute to our understanding of the distinctive roles that these two facets of right-wing ideology might play in the domain of public health.

Source: Social Psychological and Personality Science

DOI: 10.1177/19485506211055295

Authors: Michał Bilewicz, Wiktor Soral

Institution: University of Warsaw

Language: English

Topic: Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy

Subfield: Health

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju