Global pandemic, societal responses, ideological solutions

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the associated COVID-19 pandemic, is perhaps the greatest threat to life, and lifestyles, the world has known in more than a century. The scholarship included here provides critical insights into the ethics and ideologies, inequalities, and changed social understandings that lie at the heart of this pandemic. This volume maps out the ways in which the pandemic has impacted (most often disproportionately) societies, the successes and failures of means used to combat the virus, and the considerations and future possibilities - both positive and negative - that lie ahead. While the pandemic has brought humanity together in some noteworthy ways, it has also laid bare many of the systemic inequalities that lie at the foundation of our global society. This volume is a significant step toward better understanding these impacts. The work presented here represents a remarkable diversity and quality of impassioned scholarship and is a timely and critical advance in knowledge related to the pandemic. This volume and its companion, COVID-19: Volume II: Social Consequences and Cultural Adaptations, are the result of the collaboration of more than 50 of the leading social scientists from across five continents. The breadth and depth of the scholarship is matched only by the intellectual and global scope of the contributors themselves. The insights presented here have much to offer not just to an understanding of the ongoing world of COVID-19, but also to helping us (re-) build, and better shape, the world beyond.

Timeline of COVID-19 1. Introduction: COVID-19: Global pandemic, societal responses, ideological solutions 2. The SARS Cov-2 Virus and the COVID-19 Pandemic PART I: ETHICS AND IDEOLOGIES 3. McDonaldization in the Age of COVID-19 4. Theocidies of the COVID-19 Catastrophe 5. Necroethics in the Time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter 6. Ecology, Democracy, and COVID-19: Rereading and Radicalizing Karl Polanyi 7. Heterotopia in Melanesia: Reactions to COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea 8. The Blessings of COVID-19 for Neoliberalism, Nationalism, and Neoconservative Ideologies 9. The Rise of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Decline of Global Citizenship PART II: EXACERBATING INEQUALITIES 10. Inequalities and COVID-19 11. Spotlighting Hidden Inequities: Post-secondary education in a pandemic 12. Business as Usual: Poverty, education, and economic life amidst the pandemic 13. Inflection Points: The intersection of COVID-19, climate change, and systemic racism PART III: CHANGING SOCIAL UNDERSTANDINGS IN RESPOSE TO CRISIS 14. Blowing Bubbles: COVID-19, New Zealand's bubble metaphor, and the limits of households as sites of responsibility and care 15. Making the Invisible Visible: Viral cloud moments in the SARS COV-2 pandemic 16. Treating Loneliness in the Aftermath of a Pandemic: Threat or Opportunity? 17. Managing Trauma Exposure and Developing Resilience in the Midst of COVID-19 18. The Costs of Care: A content analysis of female nurses' media visibility and voices in the United States, China, and India during the COVID-19 pandemic 19. COVID-19, the Pand(m)emic: Social media explorations from the Arab World