I am writing this post from my room in South London, where I am currently in self-isolation. I have to think about how, about a month earlier, I gave a lecture to our Geography first years about the plague. To [...]

Martin Shaw On 17 March, when the extent of the British government's failure to protect the population from the coronavirus had become clear, the respected political commentator Ian Dunt tweeted, 'The Conservative party is not composed of genocidal murderers. They are not trying to [...]

Sam Whimster As different countries take measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, much is being revealed about the nature of different forms of society. In some it is revealed as strong, in others weak, and in others a fatalism about the [...]

Linsey McGoey Jana Bacevic’s compelling commentary for Discover Society on the politics of nudging identifies a number of key shifts in political governance over recent years. As she points out, throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the British government has been advised [...]

Anonymous Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in January, the Chinese one-party state has faced sustained criticism in international media for its handling of the disease. Media coverage has highlighted early efforts by Chinese bureaucrats to suppress news of the [...]

Marius Meinhof Europe seems to be shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic. Germany does not contain centres of the outbreak, but has closed national borders. Italy is left alone as no one can spare any medical resources. Countries block each other’s delivery [...]

Elisa Pieri The current outbreak of COVID-19 is a stark reminder of our permanent exposure to risk of pandemic outbreaks. To prepare and respond more effectively to pandemics we need to put in place mechanisms for decision making that are procedurally [...]

Matias Nestore As I sit down to write this piece, in my family home in the Orcia valley, Italy is entering the second week of full lockdown due to the relentless spread of COVID-19. The streets around me have grown quieter [...]

Mario Bisiada The paradox of these days is that, while much of Europe has ground to a halt and authorities urge us to slow down, the pace with which new restrictions, case statistics and opinions hit us is ever faster. Many [...]

Jana Bacevic In an interview in 1987, Margaret Thatcher famously responded: “There is no such thing as society...there are individual men and women, and there are families”. For years, this quote – itself possibly a paraphrase of Hayek – was [...]

Alyson Learmonth On the 4th March this year I returned from 4 weeks in rural Scotland, where I had very limited internet access, to find a world somersaulting around Covid-19. My immediate reaction was relief that I retired from being a Director [...]

Marco Senatore Due to COVID-19 we are forced to acknowledge the importance of human life as the basic, fundamental value that unites the world. And societies are rediscovering other associated values that are essential for its defence: solidarity, prudence, enforcement of [...]

Discover Society was set up six-years ago as a free online monthly magazine of social research, policy analysis and critical commentary. In response to the rapidly unfolding Covid-19 pandemic, we are now giving over our Rapid Response theme to articles [...]

Karen Kendrick I am at this moment coming up with a lesson plan to teach my students about how capitalism and globalization created the conditions for the COVID-19 pandemic. I am doing this because the college I teach at has asked [...]

Graham Scambler At the time of writing, there is no real consensus emerging on how best to respond to what the WHO now describes as the coronavirus pandemic. It is a once-in-a-generation challenge for epidemiologists. But it’s a tough one, and [...]

Ben Kasstan Shabbat is the 25 hour period of rest that sees most businesses and public transportation close in Israel, punctuating the week from Friday evening to Saturday evening - when life slowly resumes again. Within ten minutes of the supermarkets [...]

Elisa Pieri The threat of new global pandemics has become a pressing concern in the West. The likelihood and impact of future pandemics are discussed amongst scientists working in various medical fields – from immunology to virology, epidemiology and veterinary research. [...]