Social solidarity during a pandemic: Through and beyond Durkheimian Lens

Abstract

During a crisis, the degree of solidarity is the basis of endurance of any society. The COVID-19 crisis is one of the unprecedented challenges that the world is contending presently. This article views that ‘social distancing’ and other public health measures which state agencies prescribe during this period can be effectively practiced when ‘social distance’ between people is minimum. Social solidarity is the cementing force that helps in reducing the social distance that is increasing between people during this pandemic. We explore Emile Durkheim’s theory of social solidarity in context of the COVID-19 crisis demonstrating cases from the Indian scenario. After more than a century, we are rediscovering the operational dimensions of Durkheim’s ideas under the social transition that the COVID-19 pandemic has created. Though Durkheim initially believed that in the course of social evolution, mechanical solidarity in traditional societies would pave its way to organic solidarity in modern societies but traces of mechanical solidarity is discernible in this pandemic phase. Collective actions stimulate social solidarity, whereas severe inequalities in society undermine solidarity. The article concludes that social solidarity plays a pivotal role in bridging the social distance and reducing public health risk by developing a collective consciousness in society during a pandemic.