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Angaben zum Inhalt: „Attitudes about gender and the care for small children before and after the first lockdown in the Netherlands The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major changes in the division of paid and unpaid work in many Dutch households. Before the pandemic, work-care patterns were relatively traditional in the majority of families in the Netherlands, with women performing more unpaid tasks and men more paid work. These patterns were disrupted during the lockdown by the obligation to work from home and formal and informal childcare being unavailable. This meant that fathers were much more exposed to care and household tasks than before the pandemic. This effect was potentially reinforced by the fact that many ‘essential workers’ in education and healthcare were female, leaving their male partner to take over (extra) care tasks at home. But did these changes in the division of tasks also affect normative attitudes about gender and care? In this study we aim to answer this question using longitudinal data collected among 300 respondents in the Netherlands before (early 2019/2020) and after (July 2020) the first lockdown. We expect that attitudes about men’s caring capabilities have become more positive in partnered men and women if the male partner was working from home. The empirical results show that attitudes about gender roles regarding child rearing have become more traditional after the lockdown and this is particularly the case for men who worked from home while their partner continued to work outside the home.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „More than a boost in political trust: Dutch public opinion during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dutch public opinion was largely characterized by a more positive outlook on society and politics. We give explanations for this rather positive spirit based on literature on earlier crises and we outline the changes in public opinion between January and April 2020 (using the Citizens' Outlooks Barometer). We will complement this quantitative analysis by analysing several open-ended questions to enhance our knowledge on the individual’s perceptions, attitudes and judgments about politics and society at the beginning of the pandemic. Our qualitative data analysis shows that the boost in political trust is driven by a specific appreciation of proceedings during the crisis and not by future expectations. But moreover, while this political ‘rally-round-the-flag’ phenomenon became centre stage of the crisis literature, we actually found that this is less salient than the societal outlook during a crisis: many citizens also express a reappraisal of society.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „A polarization pandemic? Political polarization has been identified as a key societal risk of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While various actors have expressed concern about extreme single-issue opinions, mass polarization may be characterized better as increasing association between various opinions. This could lead to deepening cleavages as new issues arise. We thus describe opinions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic relative to pre-existing mass opinion structures. We review the science on polarization, ultimately focusing on the Netherlands specifically. Using survey data of Dutch social media users (N = 216), we find that opinion clustering on general political issues is loose, and that these clusters do not uniformly predict attitudes towards measures to combat consequences of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the found clusters are better predictors than ideological identification. These results stress the importance of conceptualizing polarization as multi-attitudinal clustering rather than as unidimensional opinion difference.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „Are we in this together? Changes in anti-immigrant sentiments before and during the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic is posing a pathogen or even existential threat to people all across the globe. According to traditional literature, threat perceptions induce anti-immigrant sentiments, as ingroup identity and self-interest are strengthened at the expense of the outgroup. In this manuscript, we study whether the COVID-19 pandemic, as a universal and relatively novel threat, increases anti-immigrant sentiments akin to responses to realistic and symbolic threats frequently described in the literature. We also look at whether such responses are expressed more strongly among specific groups in Dutch society. To do so, we use unique longitudinal panel data based on the European Values Study 2017, representative of the Netherlands, with a repeated measure in May 2020, during the national lockdown. Based on structural equation modeling, we demonstrate that anti-immigrant sentiments have not increased due to (perceived threat of) the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, negative opinions towards immigrants decreased between 2017 and 2020 in the Netherlands, for which we provide alternative explanations. Although some subgroups do experience more threat than others due to the coronavirus, such as women, first generation immigrants, and the elderly, this does not lead to more negative feelings towards outgroups. Whether this is due to the fact that individuals feel pathogenically threatened by everyone, regardless of group membership, should be explored in future research.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „Social capital as protection against the mental impact of COVID-19 The corona pandemic has a huge impact on the mental wellbeing of the Dutch population. This article, based on a large-scale internet survey (N = 22,696) on the social impact of COVID-19, firstly examines which social groups are most susceptible to the mental health impact of the virus. Secondly, we examine whether social capital provides protection against this impact. We find that the mental health impact of COVID-19 is considerable and that it increased over the course of 2020. Women, young people, respondents with low incomes and/or poor health experience relatively more fear and stress due to the virus. We do not find a difference between respondents with or without a migration background. Social capital (received support, trust in people and in institutions) has the expected effect: the more support and trust, the less fear and stress. There is a mediation effect. Older people, respondents with high incomes and/or good health experience less fear and stress, partly because they have more social capital. This is different for females. They would experience even more fear and stress, compared to men, were it not for the fact that they have more social capital. Hence we conclude that social capital indeed provides some protection against the negative mental health effects of COVID-19.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „Tijdens het Kamerdebat over corona haalde SGP-leider Van der Staaij terecht Abraham Kuyper aan. Die sprak wijze woorden over de Spaanse griep, die nog steeds actueel zijn en tonen dat niet alles maakbaar is. Maar dat mag niet tot passiviteit leiden, integendeel. En ook daarmee kan Kuyper ons verder helpen.“

Abstract: „To mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Dutch government has implemented several rules and regulations during the pandemic. Compliance with these rules and regulations is crucial for its effectiveness. In the current article, the authors give an overview of research findings from three different studies looking at compliance with the COVID-19 mitigating measures in the Netherlands. In these studies, both manual and computer-based video-analysis is used to give insight in the behavior of people on the streets of Amsterdam. Study 1 monitors compliance with the social distancing directive and stay-at-home advice, showing that people keep less distance when it is crowded on the street. Study 2 focusses on compliance with mandatory mask-wearing and shows that mask-wearing increases with the implementation of the mandatory mask areas, but crowding does not decrease. Finally, Study 3 looks at compliance of citizens during the curfew and shows that streets became far less crowded after 9 p.m. during curfew nights.“

Abstract: „During the COVID-19 crisis a risk of ‘code black’ emerged in the Netherlands. Doctors mentioned that in case of code black, very senior citizens might not receive intensive care treatment for COVID-19 due to shortages. Sociologist Ulrich Beck argued that palpable risks lead to the creation of new networks of solidarity. In this article this assumption is investigated by analyzing the different storylines prevalent in the public discussion about ‘code black’. Initially, storylines showing sympathy with the plight of the elderly came to the fore. However, storylines brought forward by medical organizations eventually dominated, giving them the opportunity to determine health care policy to a large extent. Their sway over policymaking led to a distribution scheme of vaccines that was favourable for medical personnel, but unfavourable for the elderly. The discursive process on code black taken as a whole displayed a struggle over favourable risk positions, instead of the formation of risk solidarity.“

Angaben zum Inhalt: „Vanaf het moment dat Nederland werd geconfronteerd met het coronavirus gaven cartoonisten op eigenzinnige wijze commentaar: op het begin van de crisis, de welhaast corona-loze zomer, de tweede golf met lockdowns, de wappies, de avondklok en de komst van het vaccin.00Historicus Jan de Bas toont de beeldvorming rond de coronacrisis en hij laat ook de cartoonisten zelf aan het woord. De ruim honderdvijftig spotprenten in 'Corona in cartoons' zijn gemaakt door toptekenaars zoals Bas van der Schot, Kamagurka, Tom Janssen, Joep Bertrams, Berend Vonk, Len Munnik, Jos Collignon en Arend van Dam. Ook Fokke & Sukke zijn present. De prenten bieden een unieke terugblik op een jaar waarin het normale leven misschien wel voorgoed veranderde.“

Abstract: „In de periode tussen 12 maart en 1 december 2020 hadden de 25 veiligheidsregio’s een sleutelrol bij de bestrijding van het coronavirus. Zij volgden de bindende aanwijzingen van de Minister van VWS op en hadden daarnaast de bevoegdheid om eigen maatregelen voor hun regio te nemen. Dankzij het afstemmingsoverleg tussen de veiligheidsregio’s in het Veiligheidsberaad is in de corona-aanpak niettemin steeds een grote mate van uniformiteit zichtbaar geweest. In deze bijdrage komt aan de orde hoe beperkt de ruimte voor een gedifferentieerde corona-aanpak in de afgelopen maanden is geweest en waarom de betrokkenheid van de veiligheidsregio’s bij de coronabestrijding achteraf gezien als een gelukkige greep kan worden beschouwd.“