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2021-08-05

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Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 International

This study researched the themes of Campbellā€™s (1988) third (sociological) and fourth (pedagogical) functions of mythology and sense of community theory on the anti-mask subreddit: No New Normal. Users of the No New Normal subreddit, posited that they lived in a different reality from those that chose to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines during the 2020/2021 COVID-19 pandemic. A digital ethnography, over an eleven-month period, analyzed and catalogued 838 user comments and posts revealing that mythological functions underpinned their arguments and strengthened a belief that they were quickly approaching a dystopian future with those that chose to wear a mask as the enemy. Furthermore, posts from the group revealed a community, as defined by the sense of community, that was especially pronounced as elements of membership.

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Mythology, Sense of Community, Conspiracy Theories, COVID

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