The role of institutional and cultural settings in the management of epidemics: Accounting for cholera morbus in Naples and London in 1854/55

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted critical differences in how governments tackle uncertainty and risk during a health emergency. Among potential explanations for the observed diversity in governments’ behaviour and policies, cultural norms and values have been cited as having played a crucial role in shaping different reactions in different national environments. Within this context, the cultural and institutional identities of the cities of Naples and London are explored as explanations are sought for their differing responses in the management of their epidemics. The focus is on the spreading of cholera morbus from the Middle and the Far East to England and Italy in 1854/55. The comparison stresses distinctions lying in the values settings of the two countries, where education, religion, superstition, living standards, institutional status and social norms are emphasised as shaping different governments’ management of the epidemic and different responses to governments’ policies. The reporting process of infections in Naples and London is the basis of our analysis. The processes through which information was collected and transmitted and infections were mapped are analysed as a social sampling device, representing a specific repertoire of governmental constructs that mirror medicine’s intellectual and institutional history, social roles, and individual identity for cultural values.