National nostalgia and prostalgia predict support toward the Black Lives Matter movement and creating a new normal following the pandemic

Abstract

AbstractThe Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and the COVID‐19 pandemic are two distinct forces that have introduced cultural change around the world by respectively challenging or amplifying the status quo. Past research demonstrates that cultural change can be perceived as threatening. Thus, the change brought upon by the BLM movement and the pandemic may be reducing support toward the BLM movement and reducing support for creating a new normal following the pandemic (i.e., creating new social norms). Based on the Cultural Inertia Model, we predicted that highlighting the BLM protests and the COVID‐19 pandemic as agents of change would hinder support toward each agent of change. In essence, two agents of change might be too much change. We also hypothesized that national nostalgia and prostalgia would serve as psychological anchors or propellers that hinder or facilitate support toward each agent of change. Our findings demonstrated that highlighting the BLM protests and the pandemic as agents of change did not cause differences in support toward the BLM movement or creating a new normal. However, national nostalgia and prostalgia served as individual difference measures that respectively reduced and facilitated support toward the BLM movement and the creation of new social norms.