‘The air is a little too dangerous’: how children navigate between rules and risks in times of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding government measures to prevent the spread of infection have affected children living in socially disadvantaged urban areas in distinctive ways. While their role and responsibility concerning contagion risks are subject to debate, the regulations impact their lives in multiple areas, including peer interactions, family life and education. Understanding their perception and navigation of pandemic risks is therefore crucial to supporting coping strategies and to fostering self-protective behaviour. By employing the concepts of social navigation and emotion – risk assemblage, this study provides a novel perspective on these children’s assessment and management of contagion risks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a qualitative field study conducted at two elementary schools in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods in two different cities in Germany, I show how children negotiated risk through interaction with bodies, places and materials they classified as risky or protective, and how their risk construction was shaped by social and cultural processes. I further demonstrate that uncertainties, such as contradictory information, or desires, like security and freedom, led the participants to lean on combined rational and non-rational tactics. Finally, I demonstrate how situational adjustment of risk assessment and rule adherence became a navigational tactic that allowed the children to balance safety and liberty within an environment of constant change.