Responsibility for protecting other people is one of the most important driving forces of prosocial and civic behaviour. This sense of responsibility, in the current context of the covid-19 crisis, may help towards preventing and repairing some of the pandemic’s negative consequences. Political and health authorities alike have insisted on the importance of all citizens acting responsibly, especially with respect to complying with healthcare rules, maintaining social distancing or respecting mobility restrictions. In parallel, and as an alternative form of tackling the consequences of the pandemic, self-managed practices and organised spaces for community solidarity have emerged. 

Within this context, it is relevant to analyse different perspectives of the concept of responsibility. Thus, it is fitting, at least, to distinguish two types of responsibility: one of an individual type (someone feeling responsible for themselves and the people closest to them) and the other of a collective type (feeling responsible for society in general). The study conducted, on which this article is based, analysed how these two forms of responsibility manifested themselves simultaneously and explored whether, differentially, they were associated with the following aspects: 1) preventive public health practices, such as hygiene and social distancing; 2) solidarity and prosocial behaviour towards other people in the community; 3) support for restrictive policies; 4) support for social protection policies, geared towards softening the economic and social impact due to the crisis and 5) support for international cooperation.

People’s sense of responsibility depends on whether they prioritise their own individual interests (i.e., their family and friends) or collective interests (whether the local or the global community). The results of the study conducted indicate that eight out of every ten people resident in Spain feel responsibility for protecting themselves or their loved ones from catching the virus (82.2% agree somewhat or strongly); fewer than half feel responsibility for protecting other Spanish citizens from catching it (46%) and fewer than four out of every ten people feel responsible for protecting the rest of the people in the world (37.4%).

Within the context of a pandemic caused by a highly contagious virus, the dissemination of and compliance with good practices in the public health sphere are key for reducing transmission. Wearing a mask, washing hands and maintaining an interpersonal safety distance of two metres are the most applied preventive behaviours (followed by 95.2%, 80.3% and 77.8%, respectively). The majority of people surveyed, furthermore, use hand sanitizer to clean their hands (67.2%). With respect to the lockdown period, three quarters of the people surveyed affirm that they left their house only when necessary (75.7%) and the large majority avoided visiting family and friends (77.8%).

A smaller percentage of citizens actively participate in preventing the spread of the virus or offer help to the people who need it most. According to the data collected, four out of every ten people share information on preventive measures (40.7%), a little more than a third help their neighbours with their purchases (36.2%) and only a minority participate in organised networks of care for the community (12.3%).

Many countries have imposed different measures to fight the spread of covid-19 which affect individual and collective freedoms. Among these measures, it is worth mentioning the obligatory use of face coverings in public spaces, restrictions on mobility, the closing of schools or of school groups, the suspending of non-essential socioeconomic activity, the prohibition of mass meetings and public events, etc. These types of measures have also been a focus of debate in Spanish society.

With regard to interior policy measures, the majority of people are in agreement with maintaining the obligation of wearing a mask, even in open spaces (82.8%); nearly three quarters support the limitation of mobility within the country itself (72.5%) and seven out of every ten people accept the night-time curfew (69.1%). However, nearly half of the people surveyed are in favour of maintaining all commercial activities open (48%). 

With respect to foreign policy measures, the need to place in quarantine those people coming here from high-risk countries is expressed by the majority (89.4%). Furthermore, six out of every ten people agree with restricting entry into Spain of immigrants (60.3%), while four in every ten support the regularisation of the administrative situation of all immigrants already resident in the country at the time the pandemic broke out (42.4%). Along the same lines, only 20% of society supports the opening up of borders to international tourism.

Numerous countries have introduced social policies to alleviate the economic consequences of the pandemic. The data obtained suggest that Spanish society expresses a great demand for these types of measures. Thus, majority support is observed for the need to provide social assistance for elderly or dependent people (92.1%) and homeless people (89.5%); broad support is also received for actions such as offering meal vouchers for the population most in need (87.4%). Furthermore, also prioritised are subsidies for covering shorter working days due to the pandemic (78.1%) or other wage subsidies, as well as subsidies for paying the rent (77.9%). It is worth highlighting, apart from these social protection actions of a more immediate nature, that citizens are in agreement with other more structural measures, such as universal basic income (64.2%) or higher taxation for people with higher incomes (64.6%).

Among the possible measures for slowing down the pandemic, international cooperation has great support from citizens. Nine out of ten people are in agreement with exchanging information and experiences with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and with other countries (89.6%), and they also support global cooperation to accelerate the development of tests, treatments and vaccines (90.5%). To a lesser extent, although still in the majority, the people surveyed are in agreement with mutual financial support between countries (85.6%) and with the coordination of political responses between states (80.1%).

Vaccination has become focus of social debate. At the time the study was conducted, three quarters of people surveyed were willing to be vaccinated as soon as it became possible (75.1%) and a lower, but significant percentage, was not (12.2%) or did not have a clear opinion on the subject (12.7%).

Furthermore, Spanish society shows an ambivalent attitude regarding how to manage the administration of vaccines on a worldwide scale. The majority of people surveyed have doubts on whether priority should be given to European citizens (39.2%), while the rest of those surveyed are divided between whether to offer this priority (30.8%) or not (30.1%).

Within the context of the current pandemic, perceiving that one’s own behaviour may imply a risk for others can motivate good public health practices. The statistical analyses of the study conducted show that individual responsibility (oriented towards oneself or loved ones) is associated with preventive individual conducts (of hygiene and social distancing), as well as a greater degree of agreement with social protection policies, global cooperation and restrictive measures in internal and external policies (such as limited internal mobility or border controls). Collective responsibility (oriented towards both the rest of Spanish society and global society alike) is related with the prosocial behaviour of community solidarity.

From the design of the study conducted, on which this article is based, it is not possible to infer mechanisms of cause and effect. Even so, the findings suggest which types of responsibility guide people when it comes to tackling the covid-19 crisis. The results point towards individual responsibility being related with good adherence to public health practices, whereas collective responsibility could help transition from individual actions to others in which solidarity and community care have a greater weight in the response to the pandemic.

These two forms of responsibility could guide the discourses of the politicians, journalists, and health professionals, among others, towards promoting preventive practices and support for policies aimed at fighting the covid-19 pandemic as comprehensively as possible.

In January 2021, a study was carried out based on a representative sample of the Spanish population. A total of 2,004 people were surveyed aged between 18 and 65 years (52% women and 48% men). The data were collected via an online questionnaire, which can be consulted on the project website. It is important to highlight that, although the survey was carried out in January 2021, the questions about the degree of application of certain conducts referred to the whole period of the pandemic.

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