structural shocks and extreme exposures related to covid

Социология коронавируса, сборник статей

In the United States, nearly all states have issued stay-at-home orders. Most people’s lives are legally and structurally confined to their neighborhoods and the resources in those neighborhoods. This means that structural inequality has the potential to be exacerbated rather than reduced.Let’s take two neighborhood profiles. On one hand, people in well-resourced neighborhoods with stocked grocery stores, spacious yards, and telework may largely live their days typing on laptops, accidently displaying their video on Zoom meetings, and exercising on their new Peloton bikes. On the other hand, people in low-income neighborhoods are stuck with limited produce and food options, a reduced public transportation schedule that further exposes them to risks of contracting the coronavirus, and “essential” work with low wages that has not kept pace with inflation and often leads them to serve those living in the well-resourced neighborhood.

The articles in this wave of our COVID-19 special online issue address shocks to social institutions that lead to extreme outcomes. Branch documents how the coronavirus may lead to over policing and a lasting legacy that formalized a surveillance state. Lewis-McCoy and Pothen address how local geographies matter. Lewis-McCoy gives us insights into the lives of people in New Rochelle, New York (considered ground zero of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States). Pothen discusses how social networks matter during unstable times. Accordingly, it is even more important for scientists to be trusted.

Eyal discusses why the COVID-19 pandemic may be a make or break moment for the science community. He argues it is critically important for academics and scientists to reestablish themselves with the public as a trusted source during an era of perceived “fake news.”

The final three pieces in this issue address how families are being impacted by the coronavirus. Gengler discusses how families simply are not structurally prepared to live in a moment of crisis, while Balboa highlights the strength of family ties. Carpenter ends by discussing sex and the role the coronavirus may have on romantic and sexual relationships.

We hope the articles being released in this special online issue are useful for providing more in-depth analysis beyond headlines and White House meetings where the president discusses TV ratings. People are dying, healthcare providers and frontline workers are trying to preserve their physical, mental, and emotional health, and families are struggling. Social context matters in moments like these for people to put what is occurring on a micro-level in a broader structural context. We believe these articles help to provide this balance.

– Rashawn Ray and Fabio Rojas

• ”The Lasting Impacts of Policing Coronavirus” by Michael Branch
• ”Geographies of Crisis: New Rochelle and the Nation’s Ground Zero” by R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy
• “COVID-19, Containment, and Social Networks in Atlanta” by John Pothen
• ”COVID-19 is a Make or Break Moment for U.S. Experts” by Gil Eyal
• “Families are not Structurally Prepared for COVID-19” by Amanda M. Gengler
• “The Strength of Family Ties and COVID-19” by Nicoletta Balbo, Francesco C. Billari, and Alessia Melegaro
• “Sex During Coronavirus” by Laura M. Carpenter