Plus ça change? The COVID-19 pandemic as continuity and change as reflected through risk theory. (17th November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alaszewski, Andy
• Is Part Of: Health, risk & society. Volume 23:Number 7/8(2021)
• Page Start: 289
• Page End: 303
• Publication Date: 2021-11-17
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- SARS-CoV-2 -- risk -- Risk Society -- cultural theory -- Governmentality; Health risk assessment -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; Health risk communication -- Periodicals; Social medicine -- Periodicals; Jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Public Health -- Periodicals; Risk Assessment -- Periodicals; Risk Factors -- Periodicals; Social Medicine -- Periodicals; 363.1
• DOI: 10.1080/13698575.2021.2016656
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8575

Abstract

Abstract : On 30 December 2019, Dr Marjorie Pollack, deputy editor of ProMed, received information about a SARS-like disease in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Having checked the facts, she issued an alert to the worldwide network signalling the start of an outbreak of a highly infectious and dangerous disease. The new virus, SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly from Wuhan causing a global pandemic of COVID-19. In this review, I examine the ways in which risk can provide insights into and an understanding of the social and cultural responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. I draw on three major theories that highlight the role of risk in contemporary societies: Beck and Giddens's analysis of late modern society as risk society; Douglas's analysis of the continuing significance of cultural theory in understanding the construction and use of risk to address social tensions and challenges; and Foucault's analysis of governmentality and the use of discourses such as risk as a form of power and control.