TY - JOUR

T1 - Pandemics Initially Spread Among People of Higher (Not Lower) Social Status

T2 - Evidence From COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu

AU - Berkessel, Jana B.

AU - Ebert, Tobias

AU - Gebauer, Jochen E.

AU - Jonsson, Thorsteinn

AU - Oishi, Shigehiro

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (GE 2515/6-1), the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Foundation, and the Fulbright Association. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

PY - 2022/4

Y1 - 2022/4

N2 - According to a staple in the social sciences, pandemics particularly spread among people of lower social status. Challenging this staple, we hypothesize that it holds true in later phases of pandemics only. In the initial phases, by contrast, people of higher social status should be at the center of the spread. We tested our phase-sensitive hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1, we analyzed region-level COVID-19 infection data from 3,132 U.S. regions, 299 English regions, and 400 German regions. In Study 2, we analyzed historical data from 1,159,920 U.S. residents who witnessed the 1918/1919 Spanish Flu pandemic. For both pandemics, we found that the virus initially spread more rapidly among people of higher social status. In later phases, that effect reversed; people of lower social status were most exposed. Our results provide novel insights into the center of the spread during the critical initial phases of pandemics.

AB - According to a staple in the social sciences, pandemics particularly spread among people of lower social status. Challenging this staple, we hypothesize that it holds true in later phases of pandemics only. In the initial phases, by contrast, people of higher social status should be at the center of the spread. We tested our phase-sensitive hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1, we analyzed region-level COVID-19 infection data from 3,132 U.S. regions, 299 English regions, and 400 German regions. In Study 2, we analyzed historical data from 1,159,920 U.S. residents who witnessed the 1918/1919 Spanish Flu pandemic. For both pandemics, we found that the virus initially spread more rapidly among people of higher social status. In later phases, that effect reversed; people of lower social status were most exposed. Our results provide novel insights into the center of the spread during the critical initial phases of pandemics.

KW - COVID-19

KW - pandemic spread

KW - social status

KW - Spanish flu

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114395296&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/19485506211039990

DO - 10.1177/19485506211039990

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85114395296

VL - 13

SP - 722

EP - 733

JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science

JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science

SN - 1948-5506

IS - 3

ER -