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I've thought a lot about what the proper role of sociologists is amidst this crisis. This thread identifies a few possibilities but it misses the mark by seeming to downplay the severity of the pandemic. So what's our role? My thoughts follow: https://twitter.com/fabiorojas/status/1263883216609558529
First, the obvious point. Some sociologists and other social scientists have expertise in network analysis that helps on collaborations like this one: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/masks-covid-19-infections-would-plummet-new-study-says
Or this research that models student movements on campus, pointing to the dangers of reopening universities too quickly. https://osf.io/6kuet/
But more broadly, our role in this has to be to deal with the second-order effects of the pandemic and of the containment measures used to control it. Part of that lies in challenging the invidious "open/closed" distinction that is coarsening so much discourse.
We also need to be out front in dealing with issues like shame and stigma, both in terms of studying them and educating the public. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/nyregion/coronavirus-victims-immunity.html
As terrifying as this crisis is, it is not unprecedented. We know what plagues and pandemics past have done: led to panic, terror, stigma, as well as exploiting and widening inequalities. Pandemics have exacerbated bigotry, prompted fear of The Other, the "foreigner" or outsider.
As an aside: This is the sense in which Hurricane Katrina was "not a natural disaster." The devastation was violently exacerbated by decades of neglect and inequity at every level that impacted infrastructure, policing, access to evacuation, etc.
In the same vein, the devastation of a pandemic always has proximate social causes beyond the pathogen. Social scientists, and those who listen to them, can demonstrate this. Ed Yong did this masterfully in The Atlantic this week (read Part III): https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/patchwork-pandemic-states-reopening-inequalities/611866/
In short: we are well positioned to make the case that lives can be saved now and in the future by *social* reforms that lessen the impact of a pandemic.
It's too facile to say that "we know about the inequality caused by unemployment, so let's end the shutdown." We know COVID-19 is feeding off of inequality, which is why it's cutting a swathe through Black, Latino, and Native populations in the US.
We are, instead, more ideally positioned to make the case for *how* containment measures are best implemented, as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci did here, with her usual brilliance: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/closing-parks-ineffective-pandemic-theater/609580/
We're well positioned to talk about the oppressiveness of pandemic stigma, of the ineffectiveness of theatre, of collective responses to health crises (i.e. why mask-use works), and the severe dangers in empowering police to enforce containment measures.
None of this precludes social distancing, shutdowns, contact tracing, crowd management, et cetera. We're well positioned to make the nuanced argument there too, charting a path forward that shows how to take this pandemic seriously while approaching intelligently.
We know the social and political horrors that plagues bring with them. Our role, then, is to identify them and help public health experts implement the measures needed to keep us safe, without triggering the worst second-order effects of pandemics.
We can point out, for instance, that shaming is a counterproductive tool for managing the pandemic because it trains the populace to avoid shame rather than avoiding contagion.
We can make the case against blaming "outsiders" for spreading disease and help armour communities against that sentiment, not least because it misdirects, leads to a false sense of security, and deepens prejudice.
And we can make the case for reforms that would meaningfully improve healthcare, while demonstrating how this pandemic is the price the US (and many other countries) are paying for the luxury of maintaining inequalities. (cf Singapore and the source of its recent outbreaks).
Put yet another way, it'll be the job of medical scientists and professionals to save the world. Our job will be to help ensure it's worth saving.
