"Deflecting the Shots: Varieties of Individualism and Nonmedical Vaccine Exemption Rates across U.S. States, 2010 to 2019" By: Wade Cole

Recently the Sociology & Criminology Department had the pleasure of attending a lecture by our very own Sociology Professor, Wade Cole. 

Read below for a brief summary of his research. 

Abstract:
Growing numbers of parents circumvent childhood vaccination requirements by requesting exemptions on the basis of religious or personal belief. We examine the use of these “nonmedical” exemptions across U.S. states from 2010 to 2019 to shed light on the social bases of vaccine opposition. We extend scholarship that highlights the role of individualism, as a cultural frame, in supporting and legitimating opposition to vaccinations. We theorize several possible flavors of cultural individualism that may lead to vaccine exemptions. Factor analyses of U.S. state-level data find systematic variation along three dimensions: (1) anti-state individualism, proverbial rugged individualism that chafes against state authority; (2) expressive individualism, modern (often progressive) individualism set in opposition to traditional authority structures and bureaucratic institutions, that frees people to “make their own choices” on matters of lifestyle, identity, healthcare, etc.; and (3) laissez-faire individualism, “neoliberal” individualism centered on commitment to free markets. Panel regression models find that states scoring high on anti-state and expressive individualisms tend to have more nonmedical vaccine exemptions, net of various controls informed by the literature. Attention to varieties of individualism helps account for state variations in vaccine opposition and makes sense of the heterogeneity in anti-vaccination discourses.