Society Matters in Surviving COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 has been ravaging the world, and it becomes clear that the damage caused by it varies from country to country. Two of the most advanced countries, the US and the UK, are suffering very severely (death tolls are 121,979 US and 43,165 UK, as of 25 June 2020) . While their lack of effective political leaders and effective administrations have been mentioned elsewhere, the more striking similarity between the two revealed by COVID-19 seems to be that these two top neoliberal societies are torn by multiple divisions. Both societies are divided and as Margaret Thatcher said, “there is no such thing as society” by now. Three decades of neoliberal policies in those countries have succeeded in tearing their societies apart. And her remedy is “people must look after themselves first” because “no government can do anything except through people”. This short commentary article discusses that we need our society back again. Simply because this neoliberal and torn-apart society with highly atomized individuals and little social compassion is ideally suited to form a hotbed of COVID-19, at a time when we must coordinate our actions and commit to sacrifices together, such as social distancing and reducing our interactions. Social capital, which involves trustworthiness, norms of reciprocity and networks is in need.