Strategies of Low-mobility Urban Groups during the COVID‑19 Pandemic in the Parameters of Trust and Solidarity

Abstract

The authors present a typology of strategies of low-mobility urban groups varying by the levels of solidarity and trust as a reaction to the events taking place during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The typology provides social portraits of the clusters of respondents and covers four behavioral strategies: 'consensus strategy,' 'pro-state strategy,' 'pro-social strategy,' and 'autonomy strategy.' 'Consensus strategy' and 'autonomy strategy' are obvious antagonists not only in initial parameters, but also in behavior patterns. A survey of the low-mobile population from three Russian cities showed that a 'consensus strategy' based on solidarity and trust is more successful in terms of the capability to recover quickly after crises and disasters. The predominance of this strategy is typical for all analyzed low-mobility urban groups, namely elderly people, parents of young children, and especially people with disabilities. This is explained by their everyday experience of overcoming various hardships and barriers, thus being capable of forming the most successful patterns of behavior in terms of resistance to various challenges. The representatives of the 'consensus strategy' are more likely than others to support vaccination, compliance with the imposed restrictions, and state measures. They contracted COVID‑19 more often than others and usually endured it in a milder form. The 'autonomy strategy' is less common among low-mobile people. It includes rejection of introduced measures and refusal to take care of health, even despite experiencing severe forms of COVID‑19 disease which, unfortunately, is the most common case for the covid-­dissidents among the low-mobile population.