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Sweden's COVID-19 policy was characterized by reliance on voluntary compliance. Citizens were expected to act responsibly. Previous research has not focused on the role of citizenship norms (duty-based, engaged, and critical) in the COVID-19 crisis. This is an important omission, since citizenship norms are expected to raise social responsibility and trigger prosocial behavior. This article asks how important citizenship norms are for explaining voluntary COVID-19 policy compliance. Additionally, it considers perceptions of how other people comply, individual background factors, and interpersonal and institutional trust. The study focuses on Swedish high school youth, a group reported to comply less with voluntary COVID-19 measures. Using survey data (N = 1823), we find higher reported voluntary compliance by high school youth who adhere more strongly to the duty-based citizenship norm. Importantly, believing that other people follow the COVID-19 recommendations is strongly associated with following them. Thus, next to citizenship norms, “descriptive norms” (i.e., what other people are doing) are central for individuals to decide how they will comply. We further find that differences in worry about the pandemic and socioeconomic background factors (migration background and economic situation of the household) explain variation in compliance. Institutional and interpersonal trust play a less important role. These findings challenge the strong focus on trust in previous research. Our findings have implications for research on policy compliance in the context of crisis, and for public policy., Social science education on trust for an active and critical citizenship

This chapter looks at political consumerism in the toy sector, offering a brief history of consumer concerns and distinguishing among four strands of political consumerist research in this sector. A primary factor facilitating political consumerism of toys is that toy companies are extremely concerned about their reputation. Manufacturers cannot assume that parents and other carers do their usual risk-benefit analysis with the same level of risk acceptance concerning toys. Factors constraining political consumerism in this sector include long product chains and difficulties in discovering unethical practices and dangerous substances. Actors involved in the political consumerism of toys come from all societal spheres, including retailers. Regulators take action when risks have been discovered by civil society actors or scientists, but international divergence in regulation constitutes an obstacle to concerted action. Future research needs to examine synergies and trade-offs among various risks in toy products.