Why do we wear masks? Legitimacy, trust and norm compliance during pandemic

Abstract

Health regulations curbing the spread of the Kovid-19 virus have brought a number of restrictions into our social life, from wearing masks and maintaining physical distance, to the complete abolition of important segments of social life. In doing so, the government has responded to the key risks of a pandemic: the health of individuals and the ability of health systems to care for large numbers of patients. At the very beginning of the pandemic, two notions took shape in the public: that young people are at lower risk than the elderly and the sick, and that they adhere less to epidemiological measures. Using a dana obtained through the survey at a sample of students at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, I tried to establish the extent to which they comply with the regulations and which factors influence it the most. The results show that a relatively small percentage of respondents regularly comply with health regulations and that most of them are in the ambivalence zone. Compliance with the measures is influenced by the following factors: belief that the measures are justified and effective, that is, agreement with the content of the norms; trust in institutions, and especially trust in experts and doctors; as well as regular media consumption and trust in their objectivity. Social control, that is, moral and legal condemnation for non-compliance with measures, did not prove to be significant. These findings show that in crisis such as this, clear and transparent communication, and the behavior of actors and institutions that instills trust, can ensure voluntary compliance with legal measures.