Grassroots Initiative: Scientists Find Solution to Address Anti-vax Ideas

VolgGTU scientists proposed a new strategy for overcoming social crises based on an analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to them, the mechanism they've discovered will effectively disseminate constructive norms of behavior in society. The results are published in the Journal of Institutional Economics.

The cognitive structures that determine our knowledge are not just what we have in our heads, scientists say. Our thinking and behavior is influenced by continuous interaction with social, technical, natural and other environments.

A special role in these processes, according to experts in the modern theory of knowledge, is played by cognitive norms - typical models of reaction to events accepted in a particular community. Their study and purposeful joint design, the scientists are sure, should provide the basis for an effective response of society to large-scale crisis situations.

A team of scientists from Volgograd State Technical University analyzed the phenomenon of mass destructive behavior during a crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. According to the scientists, they proposed a mechanism for overcoming dangerous behavioral norms through initiatives "from below", not "from above."

"The pandemic has shown it is impossible to fight the refusal to vaccinate, wear masks or maintain social distance only through the efforts of the state, large specialized organizations and the media," said Daniil Frolov, professor at the Department of Economics and Entrepreneurship at VolgGTU.

The purposeful "engineering" of cognitive norms, according to scientists, is complicated by their extreme diversity, heterogeneity and dynamism. Such an approach can become effective only in the case of multilateral interaction among a wide range of subjects — citizens, volunteers, bloggers, fact checkers, local communities, self-help groups, various online communities, and others.

"The strategy of informing and persuading 'from above' significantly stalled, in our opinion, due to the fact that 'ordinary' people were perceived as unreasonable children. In reality, those norms that are the product of co-creation most often take root, so citizens should be given an active position in such processes," Frolov stressed.

The approach proposed by VolgGTU specialists to the polycentric creation of norms as a response to acute crises, they say, has caused a positive response in the international professional community.

At present, the research team, within the framework of a scientific grant from the Russian Science Foundation, is working on a program for implementing a new approach to Russian realities, focusing on the problem of redeveloping old industrial cities that have encountered an economic and social crisis.