Four questions for theSocial Sciences in the Pandemic

Abstract

Social  scientists  have  shown  that  the COVID-19pandemic  is  not  only  a  sanitary crisis. It is also a social and political crisis, and should be treated as a moment of rupture that will bring major changes into our lives, our societies and our world. While often sidelined by policy makers, social sciences’ contributions in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic have been as important as, and in many ways complementary to, hard sciences. The pandemic has generated a cycle of de-globalization. States have closedtheir borders, travelling and mobility around the world have sharply reduced. Major international events have been  canceled or postponed. Families have isolated themselves at their homes and national governments’ priority  is  to  secure  access  to  healthcareequipment  to  protect  against  the  virus  and  basic supplies to “their own people”. This is however happening globally. A more global sociology is required to better understand and tackle the challenges we face, to gather good praxis and successful examples,to warn about threats and to think about the world that will emerge out of this global crisis. Such a global perspective should not yield to “methodological globalism” and  be  limited  to  macro-analyses.  Social  scientists  have  underlined  the  fact  that  the  crisis may also be an opportunity to rebuild the world in a different way. Many stress the need for a world more sensitive and attentive to human rights, care and social inequalities, and with stronger  public  healthcare  systems.  In  social  sciences  also,  we need  to  learn  from  other countries and other world regions’ experience of the pandemic.