The Social Sciences Board, which will work on sociology, communications, psychology, sociology of religion and statistics during the pandemic, had its first meeting. The video conference was chaired by the Minister of Health, Dr. Fahrettin Koca.
Reminding everyone that the new phase of the pandemic had started, Koca added that they were aware of some newly-arising social issues. Stressing that the fight against the pandemic would be possible through social sciences data and approaches, Koca continued,"As we have recently seen during a patient visit, where 190 people got infected, predicting cultural behavior patterns and introducing measures accordingly are of vital importance. I am sure there are many more examples like these that we have never seen. In our experiences, responding to a pandemic is a matter social psychology management. We have to attach importance to religious and cultural considerations. As you all are aware, fear is losing its grip and no one is as anxious as before. For that reason, even though the risk still persists, we are afraid that people may demonstrate resistance against measures. This is one of our priorities."
Minister Koca noted that they had made use of experiences from previous pandemics and said, "Making sure that people naturally follow measures can only be possible through communication data."
Koca added,"We consider this social sciences group as a brainstorming group beyond the limitations of positive sciences. As much as we need information, we need ideas and intuition. How will people and the society will behave? These predictions are invaluable. At this new stage we are in, we need to dig deep into collective behavior and motivations. The Social Sciences Board will offer recommendations, which will be shared with the public, when needed.
Following the Minister's statements, board members offered information about their efforts and shared their recommendations."
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