How Culture Wars Delay Herd Immunity: Christian Nationalism and Anti-vaccine Attitudes

Date
2020
Language
English
Embargo Lift Date
Committee Members
Degree
Degree Year
Department
Grantor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Sage
Abstract

Prior research demonstrates that a number of cultural factors—including politics and religion—are significantly associated with anti-vaccine attitudes. This is consequential because herd immunity is compromised when large portions of a population resist vaccination. Using a nationally representative sample of American adults that contains a battery of questions exploring views about vaccines, the authors demonstrate how a pervasive ideology that rejects scientific authority and promotes allegiance to conservative political leaders—what we and others call Christian nationalism—is consistently one of the two strongest predictors of anti-vaccine attitudes, stronger than political or religious characteristics considered separately. Results suggest that as Americans evaluate decisions to vaccinate themselves or their children, those who strongly embrace Christian nationalism—close to a quarter of the population—will be much more likely to abstain, potentially prolonging the threat of certain illnesses. The authors conclude by discussing the immediate implications of these findings for a possible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.

Description
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
Whitehead, A. L., & Perry, S. L. (2020). How Culture Wars Delay Herd Immunity: Christian Nationalism and Anti-vaccine Attitudes. Socius, 6, 2378023120977727. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120977727
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Socius
Source
Publisher
Alternative Title
Type
Article
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Final published version
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}