The interactional production and breach of new norms in the time of COVID-19: Achieving physical distancing in public spaces

A key requirement of COVID-19 pandemic behavioural regulations in many countries was for people to ‘physically distance’ from one another, which meant departing radically from established norms of everyday human sociality. Previous research on new norms has been retrospective or prospective, focusing on reported levels of adherence to regulations or the intention to do so. In this paper, we take an observational approach to study the embodied and spoken interactional practices through which people produce or breach the new norm. The dataset comprises 20 ‘self-ethnographic’ fieldnotes collected immediately following walks and runs in public spaces between March and September 2020, and these were analysed in the ethnomethodological tradition. We show that and how the new norm emerged through the mutual embodied and spoken conduct of strangers in public spaces. Orientations to the new norm were observed as people torqued their bodies away from each other in situations where there was insufficient space to create physical distance. We also describe how physical distance was produced unilaterally or was aggressively resisted by some people. Finally, we discuss the practical and policy implications of our observations both for deciding what counts as physical distancing and how to support the public to achieve it

Supplementary Materials from Predicting collective behaviour at the Hajj: place, space and the process of cooperation

Additional information about measures. Further details of analysis

Tesselation_areas from Walking together: behavioural signatures of psychological crowds

Raw data of tesseslation areas for multi-level modelling analysis of proxomity about pedestrians. This provides group numbers, time point being tracked, and the number of people present in the area at the corresponding time point

Speed_and_distance from Walking together: behavioural signatures of psychological crowds

Raw data for speed and distance analysis, indicating group numbers, speed walked, and distance walked

Cluster_Data from Walking together: behavioural signatures of psychological crowds

Raw data for cluster analysis, providing group number, x-coordinates, y-coordinates, and time point

Government ministers not wearing masks was bad enough, but their defence of this position is even worse

Government ministers not wearing masks was bad enough, but their defence of this position is even worse</p

Covid-19: What we have learnt from behavioural science during the pandemic so far that can help prepare us for the future

The emergence of the omicron variant has raised concerns that the pandemic is not yet over. These authors outline four key lessons that governments need to learn from to protect against future pandemics

Simple slopes equations of the regression of positive emotion on feeling too crowded at three levels of identification with the crowd.

<p>Note: Low = 1 <i>SD</i> below the centred mean; high = 1 <i>SD</i> above the centred mean.</p

Social identification with the crowd, location in the crowd, and positive emotion: Means, standard deviations and correlations.

<p>Note: * = <i>p</i><.01.</p

Linear model of predictors of positive emotion, with 95% confidence intervals.

<p>Note: R² = .55.</p