THE SILENT RESISTANCE Emancipative values and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This thesis explores how emancipative values in societies influence the number of people directly affected by COVID-19 during 2020. The theoretical framework builds on Evolutionary emancipative theory. I predict that more emancipative societies will have higher numbers of directly affected, because these societies will be more reluctant to limit the utilisation of freedoms. The thesis is conducted with material from World value survey, European value study, John Hopkins University and Oxford Government response tracker. It is a quantitative analysis with data from 88 countries from all continents during 2020. The result is partly consistent with my prediction, under control for relevant alternative factors, more emancipated societies have more directly been affected by COVID-19 while no effect has been established on the efficiency of restriction by emancipative values. However, the results also offer new possible research avenues as COVID-19 still needs to be further studied.