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Social Cohesion and Community Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Romania

Author

Listed:
  • Despina Saghin

    (Department of Geography, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania)

  • Maria-Magdalena Lupchian

    (Department of Geography, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania)

  • Daniel Lucheș

    (Department of Sociology, West University of Timișoara, 300223 Timișoara, Romania)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lock-down have highlighted the growing awareness of the need to involve the population in solving problems that directly affect the existence and trajectory of the life of the individual and civil society in the local, national, and regional context. The article aims both to analyze the reaction of formal and informal civil society in a context of major crisis and to analyze how the population perceives the involvement of civil society at the level of a county in Romania and its county seat city. The present sociological diagnosis used data that were collected through an online survey at the beginning of May 2020 among the population of Suceava County. It was sought to identify how the reaction of civil society was perceived and how it was mobilized, as well as how the mass media contributed to reducing the effects of the pandemic. After the elimination phase of non-compliant responses, the volume of the sample included a total of 1231 people. The results of the study indicate that this pandemic context, which manifested as a major crisis, also had positive effects in the sense of mobilizing latent but extensive energies at the local level, whose manifestation contributed to diminishing and limiting the effects of the sanitary crisis the county faced. The media, as a component of civil society, has managed to mobilize important segments of the population, both in quarantined localities and in other localities in Suceava County and Moldova. The COVID-19 crisis tested the social cohesion and resilience of communities and offered perhaps one of the most remarkable lessons of solidarity in the post-December period, both locally and nationally. Although the perception of Romanians on the role of civil society would rather be part of a culture of individualism, in extreme situations it was found that its activity has never been more important.

Suggested Citation

  • Despina Saghin & Maria-Magdalena Lupchian & Daniel Lucheș, 2022. "Social Cohesion and Community Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Romania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4587-:d:791179
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Siyao Liu & Bin Yu & Chan Xu & Min Zhao & Jing Guo, 2022. "Characteristics of Collective Resilience and Its Influencing Factors from the Perspective of Psychological Emotion: A Case Study of COVID-19 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Jianwen Ding & Jia Xu & Thomas Weise & Huan Wang, 2022. "Community Services and Social Involvement in COVID-19 Governance: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Soumya Balakrishnan & Suzanne Elayan & Martin Sykora & Marin Solter & Rob Feick & Christopher Hewitt & Yi Qiao Liu & Ketan Shankardass, 2023. "Sustainable Smart Cities—Social Media Platforms and Their Role in Community Neighborhood Resilience—A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(18), pages 1-22, September.

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