Towards a sociology of emergency. Epidemics, biorisks, and the society of the Coronavirus

Abstract

Over the last decade, the social agenda has been shaped by a continuous chain of potentially forthcoming future emergencies. Imagined, projected, and expected emergencies and crises have affected political and scientific agendas and redefined the pre-planning for risks at a local, national, and global level. Whilst most of these emergencies took place largely on an imaginary stage and never materialised – at least not with significant effects on global society – the COVID-19 pandemic finally made real the imaginary that had been expected and projected for over a decade. This article claims that within the context of an emergency in the making and the consequent social, economic, political, and material crises, sociology and social analysis need to assume new responsibilities by providing answers and perspective to those social developments that are direct and indirect results of the social and material conditions of a society of emergency. In a world in which the reality of emergencies has started to outrun the prevention of risks, a sociology of emergency is not only a useful but a necessary step in the development of social theory. We suggest that a redefinition of some of those concepts and ideas that marked the sociological agenda of risk society becomes unavoidable. We argue also that reconnection with those issues that had been discarded from the conceptual framework of a society of risk has become absolutely necessary.