Social Inaction at Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemics

Occupation: Research Associate; R&D Desk Officer
Affiliation:
European University at St. Petersburg (Russia)
Transport and Telecommunication Institute (Riga, Latvia)
Address: Sweden, Gothenburg

Journal name

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Edition

Issue 11

Pages

139-148

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has been having a tremendous effect of societies globally. From structural level down to everyday life routine social actors faced uncertainty, transformation of social norms, critical “breaking” of society. Some social practices have disappeared, whereas other emerged, with middle class and upper middle-class academicians readily adapting to new reality, whereas working class and people with low resources struggles to adapt. The study presents evidence of confusion and a “responsible citizen” identity-building by the Russian-speaking social scientists living in different European countries amid the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated lockdown policies implemented across the continent. Sociology of nothing theory by Susie Scott is used to explain conscious acts of commission and unconscious acts on omission to explain non-action, non-presence and non-participation united under the umbrella term “social inaction” in regard to following and ignoring the new social norms of the lockdown reality, as well as a stark critique of “coronavirus scepticism” by the authors of 16 autoethnographic observation diaries written from March to early April and collected in the framework of the initiative project “Virus Diaries: Chronicles of Daily Life” by the Gender Programme of the European University at St. Petersburg. Numerous “inactions” understood as “symbolic objects”, had been witnessed and reflected by most authors, leading to a conclusion of sustainability and relevance of the sociology of nothing theory for the social crisis analysis.

Keywords

sociology of nothing, coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, autoethnography, non-action, social crisis, acts of commission, academic community

Received

31.07.2020

Publication date

22.12.2020

Number of characters

31344

Cite

GOST	Hoļavins A. Social Inaction at Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemics // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2020. – Issue 11 C. 139-148 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250010722-7-1-en (circulation date: 18.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250010722-7
MLA	Hoļavins, Artūrs "Social Inaction at Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemics." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 11 (2020):139-148. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250010722-7
APA	Hoļavins A. (2020). Social Inaction at Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemics. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (11), pp.139-148 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250010722-7

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 1420

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Белинская Е.П. Неопределенность как категория современной социальной психологии личности // Психологические исследования: электронный научный журнал. 2014. №7(36). С. 3–3. [Belinskaia, E. P. (2014) Uncertainty as a Category of Modern Social Psychology of Personality. Psihologicheskie issledovaniya: elektronny nauchny zhurnal [Psychological Studies: Electronic Scientific Journal]. Vol. 7 No. 36: 3–3. (In Russ.)] DOI: 0.7256/2306-0425.2013.4.767.

2. Темкина А.А., Здравомыслова Е.А. Социология гендерных отношений и гендерный подход в социологии // Социологические исследования. 2000. № 11. С. 15–23. [Temkina, A.A., Zdravomyslova E.A. (2000) Sociology of Gender Relations and Gender Approach in Sociology. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11: 15–23. (In Russ.)] DOI: 0.1177/0891243216646713

3. Ahmad A., Mueller C., Tsamakis K. (2020) Covid-19 Pandemic: a Public and Global Mental Health Opportunity for Social Transformation? BMJ 2020 Mar 5. No. 369. Online Article. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m1383.

4. Billings R.S., Milburn T.W., Schaalman M.L. (1980) A Model of Crisis Perception: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly. Vol. 25 (June): 300–316. DOI: 10.2307/2392456.

5. Blumer H. (1969) Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

6. Bourdieu P. (1987) What Makes a Social Class? On The Theoretical and Practical Existence of Groups. Berkeley Journal of Sociology. No. 32: 1–17.

7. Brekhus W. (1998) A Sociology of the Unmarked: Redirecting Our Focus. Sociological Theory. Vol. 16. No. 1: 34–51. DOI: 10.1111/0735-2751.00041.

8. Burawoy M. (1998) The Extended Case Method. Sociological Theory. Vol. 16. No. 1: 4–33. DOI: 10.1111/0735-2751.00040.

9. Cohen A.K. (1965) The Sociology of the Deviant Act: Anomie Theory and beyond. American Sociological Review. No. 24: 5–14. DOI: 10.2307/2091770.

10. Fay N., Walker B., Swoboda N. (2017) Deconstructing Social Interaction: The Complimentary Roles of Behaviour Alignment and Partner Feedback to the Creation of Shared Symbols. In: Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the. Cognitive Science Society. July 26-29, London, United Kingdom. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.09.004.

11. Flick U. (2011) Mixing Methods, Triangulation, and Integrated Research. Qualitative Inquiry and Global Crises. Vol. 132. No. 1: 1–79. DOI: 10.4324/9781315421612-7.

12. Fone D., Dunstan F., Williams G., Lloyd, K., Palmer, S. (2007) Places, People and Mental Health: a Multilevel Analysis of Economic Inactivity. Social science & Medicine. Vol. 64. No. 3: 633–645. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2005.02.002.

13. Garfinkel H. (1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

14. Gayer L. (2018) The “Normality of The Abnormal”: Reconstructing Everyday Life in A Context of Civil War. Critique Internationale. Vol. 3: 181–190.

15. Geertz C. (1973) Thick Description: Toward An Interpretive Theory of Culture. Turning Points in Qualitative Research: Tying Knots in A Handkerchief. Vol. 3: 143–168.

16. Goffman E. (2009) Stigma: Notes on The Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon and Schuster.

17. Green R. (2011). Nothing Matters. Alresford: Iff Books.

18. Handbook of Social Resource Theory: Theoretical extensions, empirical insights, and social applications. Ed. by Törnblom K., Kazemi A. New York: Springer, 2012.

19. Harman G. (1999) Moral Philosophy Meets Social Psychology: Virtue Ethics and The Fundamental Attribution Error. In: Harman G. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. Aristotelian Society: 315–331.

20. Kuhn M.H. (1964) Major Trends in Symbolic Interaction Theory in The Past Twenty-Five Years. The Sociological Quarterly. Vol. 5 No. 1: 61–84. DOI: 0.1111/j.1533-8525.1964.tb02256.x.

21. Kurth C. (2016) Anxiety, Normative Uncertainty, and Social Regulation. Biology & Philosophy. Vol. 31. No. 1: 1–21.

22. Kvale S. (2003) The Psychoanalytical Interview as Inspiration for Qualitative Research. In: Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design. Ed. By P.M. Carmic, J.E. Rhodes, L. Yardley. American Psychological Association: 275–297.

23. Leaker D. (2009) Economic Inactivity. Economic & Labour Market Review. Vol. 3 No. 2: 42–46. DOI: 10.1057/elmr.2009.27.

24. Lemert C.C. (2015) Sociology after the Crisis. London: Routledge.

25. Marks S.R. (1974) Durkheim's theory of anomie. American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 80 No. 2: 329–363. DOI: 10.1177/0004865815585391.

26. Mattick P. (2011) Business as Usual: The Economic Crisis and the Failure of Capitalism. London: Reaktion Books.

27. McVeigh R., & Smith C. (1999). Who Protests in America: An Analysis of Three Political Alternatives—Inaction, Institutionalized Politics, or Protest. Sociological Forum. December Vol. 14. No. 4: 685–702. DOI: 10.1023/A:1021656121301.

28. Merton R.K. (1938) Social Structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review. Vol. 3. No. 5: 672–682.

29. Miles M.B., Huberman A.M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

30. Montgomery J. (2004) Individual Adaptations to Cultural Contradictions: Using Non-Monotonic Logic to Reconstruct Merton’s Theory of Anomie. Department of Sociology. University of Wisconsin – Madison. 11 June 2004.

31. Sartre J.-P. (1943) Being and Nothingness. London: Routledge.

32. Scott S. (2018) A Sociology of Nothing: Understanding the Unmarked. Sociology. Vol. 52. No. 1: 3–19. DOI: 0.1177/0038038517690681.

33. Škokić T., Kirin R.J. (2017) The Shopping Center of Abnormal Normality: Ethnography of the Distribution Tent in the Refugee Camp in Slavonski Brod. Narodna Umjetnost. Vol. 1. No. 54: 129–146. DOI: 10.15176/vol54no107.

34. Smith J.R., Hogg M.A., Martin R., Terry D.J. (2007) Uncertainty and The Influence of Group Norms in The Attitude–Behaviour Relationship. British Journal of Social Psychology. Vol. 46. No. 4: 769–792. DOI: 10.1348/014466606X164439.

35. Vince R. (2008) “Learning-in-action” and “learning inaction”: advancing the theory and practice of critical action learning. Action Learning: Research and Practice. Vol. 5 No. 2: 93–104. DOI: 10.1080/14767330802185582.

36. Weber M (1949 [1904]) Methodology of the Social Sciences. New York: Free Press.