This book provides a comparative study of people's mask-wearing behaviour in response to government policies between European-Northern America and Asian countries.
Examining citizens' attitudes towards their state during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of history, linguistics, politics, economics and sociology, the contributors in this volume explore to what extent people accept the wearing of masks in countries where governments have made it mandatory as compared to countries where people wear masks voluntarily. The book thus looks at mask-wearing from a political dichotomy between authoritarianism and liberalism and posits the extent to which political divisions could have existed in public opinion over the measures taken against COVID-19.
Filled with invaluable insights through research in 13 countries, this book will appeal to readers in policy making and influencing public opinion via the Europe-Asia comparative study.
Author(s): Noriko Suzuki, Xavier Mellet, Susumu Annaka, Masahisa Endo
Series: Routledge-WIAS Interdisciplinary Studies, 9
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 269
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Preface
1 Introduction: controversy in mask-wearing
2 Public awareness of mask usage in 29 countries in 2020
PART I Europe
3 Historical analysis of public health policies for preventing
epidemics in Hungary
4 The mask as a new political and symbolic issue in France in 2020: a qualitative analysis of news media controversies
5 Between ‘mouth-nose-protection’ and ‘muzzle’: mask-wearing in German public debate
6 The welfare state and COVID-19 countermeasures: the relationship of trust and cooperation between citizens and their governments in Sweden and Finland
7 The unlawful and unequal wearing of masks: the case of
Poland during COVID-19
8 Attitudes towards mask-wearing in Greece
9 COVID-19 in British Columbia, Canada: health policy responses and social adaptation
PART II Asia
10 Preventing the pandemic: face masks and infectious
diseases in Taiwan’s modern history
11 Social values and mask-wearing behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
12 COVID-19 infection control in China: the Chinese crisismanagement system and mask mandates
13 Public mask-wearing behaviour and perception towards COVID-19 intervention policies in Thailand: a mixedmethods study
14 The consciousness of public actions concerning the COVID-19 in Cambodia
15 Conclusion: comparative perspectives on mask-wearing policies and public behaviours
Index
