COVID-19 as Natural Intervention: Guilt and Perceived Historical Privilege Contributes to Structural Reform Under Conditions of Crisis.

Autor: Fourie MM; Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7600 South Africa., Verwoerd WJ; Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7600 South Africa.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Affective science [Affect Sci] 2022; Vol. 3 (1), pp. 34-45. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Sep 30.
DOI: 10.1007/s42761-021-00073-7
Abstrakt: The COVID-19 pandemic has been described as an unmasking of persistent racialized inequalities linked to South Africa's oppressive past. However, such observations lack empirical support. Here we examined whether COVID-19 lockdown conditions encouraged greater perceptions of continuing structural racism together with motivational and behavioral support for social justice, and whether guilt or empathic concern undergirded such responses. A national sample of White South Africans' data suggests that the pandemic served as a natural intervention, fostering greater acknowledgement of structural racism and support for redress through increased awareness of historical privilege and guilt in response to Black hardship. Guilt furthermore predicted a social justice motivation in relief efforts, whereas empathic concern predicted only charity motivation. These results suggest that "White guilt" is more consequential than empathic concern in contributing to structural reform but would require longer-term processes to support the translation of its motivational push into sustainable contributions to social justice.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00073-7.
Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests.
(© The Society for Affective Science 2021.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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