The Social Dimension of Security: The Dichotomy of Respondents’ Perceptions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sławomir Kalinowski, Aleksandra Łuczak and Adam Koziolek
Additional contact information
Sławomir Kalinowski: Department of Rural Economics, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland
Aleksandra Łuczak: Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Economics, Poznań University of Life Sciences, ul. Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznan, Poland
Adam Koziolek: Independent Researcher, 60-637 Poznan, Poland

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: The main goal of the study was to make a subjective assessment of the social security of households during the coronavirus pandemic. In order to achieve this goal, a three-stage primary research based on the CAWI method (computer-assisted web interview) was conducted on households in Poland in April, June, and September 2020. The research used statistical methods of structure evaluation and the fuzzy TOPSIS method. It assessed the security of households and respondents’ subjective perceptions of the loss of financial stability, income, and employment, as well as presenting the deterioration of the situation of their households in the immediate future. The respondents also assessed the possible deterioration of the situation in Poland, the growth of poverty in families and unemployment in the immediate future. In addition, the respondents’ subjective assessments of the level of insecurity about the future of their households and the situation in Poland were quantified. One of the most important conclusions was the dichotomy in the respondents’ perceptions, as they assessed the situation of their households better than the situation in Poland. The research shows that in April 2020, i.e., at the first stage of the research, the respondents strongly felt that the financial situation of their households had deteriorated. In June 2020 (stage II) this perception weakened slightly because they may have considered the pandemic situation to be temporary. However, in September 2020 (stage III) the sense of the possible deterioration of their financial situation increased again due to the ongoing pandemic and its consequences.

Keywords: dichotomy in perception; COVID-19; sense of insecurity; social security; socioeconomic situation; subjective poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1363/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1363/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1363-:d:733474

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().