ABSTRACT
Since the 1918 flu pandemic, wearing masks during illness has been uncommon in the US. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, however, this practice is changing. From discouragement to adoption and promotion, the rise of mask-wearing behaviors is an unusually rapid cultural practice change. Applying a “diffusion of innovations” and “social capital” approach to recent mask mobilization, this study uses content and corpus analysis methods to examine the role played by formal and informal social relationships in the adoption and diffusion of mask wearing as a pandemic preventive behavior. I argue that widespread mask making, organizing, and distribution, and their cascading communication through social networks, played a positive role in this change and further argue that contradictory messaging by social media networks and change agents played a negative role and contributed to anti-mask attitudes and practices.
