In a cross-national investigation published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, F. M. Saxler with LEVYNA’s E. Kundtová Klocová and other colleagues show that the COVID-19 pandemic affected young people’s normative beliefs about unpaid domestic work; and that this effect is stronger in countries with greater gender inequality.
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How do societal changes affect norms about gender like domestic work redistribution? How do social norms develop and change? The authors of the study used online and lab questionnaires in 19 universities across 15 countries to see how university students regarded mothers’ relative to fathers’ share of housework and childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparing two independent samples (pre-pandemic vs. pandemic), they discovered that the students viewed mothers as even greater household contributors during the pandemic, particularly so in countries with larger gender gaps.
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https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672231219719 |
In a new study published in Human Nature, LEVYNA was part of a team lead by A.K. Willard, studying how witchcraft beliefs affect social norms and behaviors. Specifically, researchers investigated whether witchcraft is regarded to be motivated by envy and how this notion influences community interactions. The findings show that, while witchcraft accusations were common, they were mostly directed at persons suspected of acting out of envy.
In an ethnographic survey-based study published in the journal Religions, D. Xygalatas and P. Maňo looked at variation in motivations for ritual practice and how it relates to the socioeconomic status of respondents. The findings indicate that whereas people of lower socioeconomic standing address more immediate concerns related to material security and safety in their ritual practices, people at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to focus on the fulfillment of spiritual, social, or cultural needs.
