Revista de Estudios Sociales

rev. estud. soc. | eISSN 1900-5180 | ISSN 0123-885X

En busca del orden en el caos: anomia, autoritarismo y salud mental en el contexto de la crisis social en Chile y España

No. 95 (2026-01-31)
https://doi.org/10.7440/res95.2026.05

Resumen

La incertidumbre provocada por crisis de alto impacto activa mecanismos cognitivos destinados a restablecer el control y la seguridad, lo que a menudo da lugar a estrategias defensivas, actitudes autoritarias y de apoyo a líderes fuertes. En este artículo se examina cómo la anomia percibida durante un periodo de crisis social se vincula con el malestar psicológico a través de distintas vías político-actitudinales. Centrándonos en Chile y España durante la pandemia de coronavirus (Covid-19) de 2020, ponemos a prueba un proceso secuencial en el que la anomia percibida se asocia con un mayor apoyo a los líderes fuertes, lo que a su vez se relaciona con un mayor autoritarismo de derecha (right-wing authoritarianism, RWA) y con el malestar psicológico. Analizamos datos transversales de una encuesta realizada en noviembre de 2020 a la población adulta de Chile y de España. Las medidas evaluaron la anomia percibida, el apoyo a líderes fuertes, la RWA y el malestar psicológico. Estimamos un modelo de mediación secuencial con intervalos de confianza bootstrap y comparamos patrones entre países mediante estimaciones separadas y pruebas de robustez. Los resultados son consistentes con una asociación indirecta secuencial de pequeña magnitud en Chile: la anomia se relacionó con mayor apoyo a líderes fuertes y con mayor RWA, y el vínculo RWA-malestar fue negativo y modesto, lo que arrojó un efecto indirecto pequeño y negativo. En España, la relación entre la RWA-malestar no fue significativa, mientras que la anomia mostró una asociación directa y positiva con el malestar; por lo tanto, la mediación secuencial no fue respaldada. Todas las asociaciones fueron de pequeñas a moderadas y se interpretan con cautela, dado el diseño transversal y de plazo temporal limitado. El estudio propone una explicación integradora, que conecta percepciones macro del orden social con la salud mental individual por medio de orientaciones sociopolíticas identificables. Al comparar dos países expuestos a la misma crisis global, pero con historias políticas recientes diferentes y distintos niveles de confianza institucional, en el artículo se muestra que la percepción de desintegración social puede asociarse a un aumento del malestar psicológico a través de mecanismos actitudinales específicos. Los hallazgos subrayan la importancia de abordar la percepción de desintegración social junto con el apoyo a la salud mental en periodos de incertidumbre colectiva.

Palabras clave: anomia, autoritarismo de derecha, Chile, comparación transnacional, España, malestar psicológico

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