Power and the pandemic: a perspective from communication and social psychology

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has overturned health, economic, and social systems everywhere in the world. As happens in a crisis, particularly one of this magnitude, this one has shown the best and the worst in individuals, groups, and larger entities like nations. Social identity has loomed large in the way people look at the world, as borders close and people start to fear each other. In this paper, we approach the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of communication and social psychology. Mowlana (this Issue) calls for more consideration of soft forms of power, and we support this call. We also note some of the risks involved with neglecting other sources of power, and in particular the interactions between various types of power. Finally, we make some suggestions for applying this approach to social-science research on Covid-19 and its consequences. All ten sources of tangible or hard power that Mowlana (this Issue) notes have loomed large in public policy and thinking, as well as in individual discussions. Many have argued that Covid-19 is both a health and an economic crisis. In this climate, it is easy to forget less tangible or soft power – the power between people and groups that stems from identity, religion, ideology, and communication (among other sources). This is what Mowlana exhorts us not to do. As one of the leaders in the thinking around soft power, he notes the potential for both influence and understanding coming from the analysis of soft power. In a macro-level discussion of power around the world, he gives a broad introduction to culture, and the ways in which culture conveys power and thence soft power. He articulates the sources of both hard and soft power, and discusses the strong connections and interactions between them. He argues for the great increase in understanding that comes from considering all sources of power, not only the obvious ones. In the case of the Covid19 pandemic, obvious sources include especially the economy, health, and the balance between them. This call for more complexity in analyses of the Covid-19 pandemic is both necessary and important. While many governments have based their policies and rules in the crisis around finding the balance between containing the epidemic and salvaging their economies, it is clear that the situation is more complicated. Very recently, the head of the World Health Organisation called on richer nations to distribute the new anti Covid-19 vaccines equitably, rather than simply putting their own nations first. He did not