COVID-19 and U.S. Disputes Over Authority, 2020-2021: Implications for the Constructionist Analysis of Social Problems.

COVID-19 is very different from the cases typically studied by constructionist analysts of social problems: it emerged quickly, spread widely, and affected many aspects of social life. As such, it offers important opportunities to reconsider the constructionist model. We focus on three issues-metrics, masks, and vaccines-where COVID-19 disputes about authority led to different alliances among several categories of claimsmakers.