Culture as an Anchor for Responses to the Pandemic

The role that different cultures play in impacting people’s response to the pandemic has been widely discussed. The aim of this brief entry is to examine and summarize these cultural responses to the pandemic, while highlighting how these responses have been introduced or exacerbated by emergent populistic ideology. In that vein, this entry discusses and explains some of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the pandemic; the role of populistic leaders and political polarization; and the influence of technology. This includes brief examples of differences in cognitive analytic strategies, the rise in populistic leadership, and use of newer technological interventions, and how all these factors shaped pandemic response in various cultures. This entry thus provides quick insight into the current scenario, and the implications this could have for the ongoing pandemic and other similar scenarios.