Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India: Redefining the Normal PDF
Preview Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India: Redefining the Normal
Gopi Devdutt Tripathy Anurita Jalan Mala Kapur Shankardass Editors Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India Redefining the Normal Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India · · Gopi Devdutt Tripathy Anurita Jalan Mala Kapur Shankardass Editors Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India Redefining the Normal Editors GopiDevduttTripathy AnuritaJalan MaitreyiCollege,SouthCampus MaitreyiCollege,SouthCampus UniversityofDelhi UniversityofDelhi NewDelhi,Delhi,India NewDelhi,Delhi,India MalaKapurShankardass Gurugram,Haryana,India ISBN978-981-16-2319-6 ISBN978-981-16-2320-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2320-2 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSingapore PteLtd.2021 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuse ofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,and transmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilar ordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Acknowledgements Thegenerationoftheideaforpublishingthisvolumearisesfromthesuccessofthe webinartitled‘HomeandtheWorldinaPandemic:RedefiningtheNormal’heldon 7 May 2020. It was organized by the Department of Sociology, Maitreyi College, SouthCampus,UniversityofDelhi,India,incollaborationwiththeDepartmentof Sociology, Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam, India. We are grateful to all who contributedinorganizingandparticipatinginthewebinar,ourcolleaguesfromthe department, college, universities and the students. In particular, we would like to expressourgratitudetoDr.HaritmaChopra,Principal,MaitreyiCollege,University ofDelhi,forsupportingusinthiswebinarandboostingustopublishthisvolume, which is a modification of the webinar topic. Our sincere thanks are also to Mrs. Draghima Basumatary, Head of the Department of Sociology, Cotton University, Guwahati,Assam,India,incollaborationwiththewebinarandencouragingusfor publicationofthisbook.Besidesthepaperpresentersatthewebinar,thecontributors tothisbookincludecolleagues oftheDepartmentofSociology,MaitreyiCollege, andweappreciatethecontributionofeachoneoftheminmakingthisbookpossible bymakingeachchapteraverymeaningfulextensionoftheirthoughtsandanorig- inal piece. In this regard, we would sincerely like to thank Dr. Aruna Grover, Dr. Rashi Bhargava, Mr. Pawan Harsana and Dr. Sana Khan from the Department of Sociology,MaitreyiCollege,andMs.PratishaBorborahandDr.JyotiDasfromthe DepartmentofSociology,CottonUniversity,forsubmissionoftheirchapters.The worksofeachofthechapterauthorsprovidetheoreticalandempiricalunderstanding ofanimportant,currentlyveryrelevanttopicforthesociety.Weareappreciativeof everyone’sintellectualdeliberationtomakethisprojectanexcitingendeavour.Every contributor’sideasandinsightshavebeenvaluable.Aseditors,weareindebtedto allofthem. IthasbeenapleasureworkingonthisvolumewithMrs.SatvinderKaur,Editor— Humanities and Social Sciences of Springer Nature based in New Delhi. She has guided and nurtured this volume from the beginning when she willingly accepted the concept of this book right through to the completion and its publication. We wouldalsoliketothankMr.RameshKumaranandMr.N.S.PandianfromSpringer fortheirassociationandassistancewiththebookpublication. v vi Acknowledgements Wearegratefulfortheopportunitytobringoutthisbook,andhopeitwillbeof interesttoawidesectionofthepopulationincludingprofessionals,researchers,prac- titioners,policy-makersandlaypublicandparticularlythoseinvolvedwithCovid-19 issues.Finally,wewouldliketothankourfamiliesfortheirsupportandcooperation whileweworkedonthisbook. February2021 GopiDevduttTripathy AnuritaJalan MalaKapurShankardass Prologue Thisbookistheoutcomeofawebinarheldon7May2020inNewDelhi,organized by the Department of Sociology, Maitreyi College, South Campus, University of Delhi,India,incollaborationwiththeDepartmentofSociology,CottonUniversity, Guwahati,Assam,India.Theideatoholdthewebinaron‘HomeandtheWorldina Pandemic:RedefiningtheNormal’wasinitiatedbyDr.GopiDevduttTripathy,Asso- ciateProfessor,asSociologyAssociationIn-chargeinconsultationwithDr.Anurita Jalan, who is also Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Maitreyi College, University of Delhi, and I was brought in as the then Teacher-in-Charge, DepartmentofSociology,MaitreyiCollege. ThosewerethedaysofthelockdownannouncednationwidebythePrimeMinister, NarendraModi,GovernmentofIndia,from23March2020onwards.Whiletheinitial Covid-19 lockdown was meant to be for 21 days, it got extended to the following monthsofAprilandMayastherateofspreadofthepandemicincreased.Latergrad- ually certain restrictions were relaxed. The university and other institutions were affectedbythelockdown,andourcollege,followinggovernmentguidelines,started workingonline.Classes,student–teacherinteractionsandallcollegeactivitiesstarted usingthedifferentInternetprovisionstocommunicate,exchangeviewsandwhole- heartedlygotinvolvedinusingvarioustoolssuchasorganizingwebinarsforsharing information.Asstudentsofsociologydiscipline,itwasimportantforustoinitiate discussion on societal aspects affecting all of us. The prevailing pandemic was a situation which required deliberations, thinking about impacts on us, reflecting on howourworldwaschanginginfrontofuswithverylittleunderourcontrolexcept takingprecautionstoavoidtheCovid-19virusinfection.Ourworld,whichwassofar consideredsociallynormal,towhichwewereusedtowithindaysofthepandemic underwentachange.Ourhomeshadanewmeaning,relationshipsgottransformed, socialinteractionsatboththehouseholdandworklevelsacquiredadifferentimage of what should be considered normal. The various social systems and institutions insocietysuchasthehealthsystem,theeconomicsystem,theeducationsector,the mediaorganizations,households,themarginalizedcommunities—allstartedgetting affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and by the consequent government directives to manage daily life. A new set of rules and various regulations were being put in place transforming our thought processes, our behaviour and our expectations and vii viii Prologue redefiningtheoldfamiliarpatternstonewnorms,bringingabeginningtothenew normal. Dr. Gopi’s idea was to capture this growing reality by bringing the department together, the colleagues, students and many more from the college and outside to deliberate on the changes happening, understanding their significance, reflecting on the supposed outcomes and in brief develop a sociological perspective to the emergingworldaroundus.HerdiscussionswithDr.Anuritatobeginwithfollowed byropinginothercolleaguesfromthesociologydepartmentincludingmeandfrom CottonUniversitywherePratisha,anex-colleagueofourdepartment,isnowbased ledtoholdingawebinarontheoverarchingtopicasstatedabove.Theorganization of the webinar involved selecting certain specific themes to present thoughts for comprehendingbasicdimensionsofthelinkbetweenthehomeandtheworldduring the pandemic. The themes were not exhaustive, but given the time constraints in holdingthewebinarduringourcollegehoursaswellasmaintainingacertainstructure andflow,theselectedtopicsweredeliberatedon.Eachtopicwaspresentedbythe different colleagues from the sociology department which allowed us to follow a sociologicalperspectiveuniformly.Thisinitselfinmanywayswasanewbeginning. Covid-19 was at that time being looked at from the medical, epidemiological and virologicaldisciplinaryperspectives.Sociologist’scontributiontounderstandingthe impactoftheCovid-19pandemicwasawelcomeadditionwhichledtoitssuccess. Theappreciationreceivedonthewebinarinitiateddiscussionstopublishavolume onthethemeandthusstartedtheprocessofcomingoutwiththisbookandincluding in the chapters besides topics discussed in the webinar few more related ones to coveralmostallaspectsofprominentsocialmattersofconcern.Thus,thisvolume gotdefinedintermsofwhatarenowitsvariouschapters. Thesuccessofthewebinarwasbasedontheselectionofthetopicsfordiscussion and also on the fact that the medium of the webinar provided a novelty from the usualnormalwayofholdingaseminarwiththephysicalpresenceofallparticipants. The webinar, a seminar conducted over the Internet, was a new beginning for our sociologydepartmenttoreachouttoanaudienceindifferentlocationssimultaneously andwhichallowedthespeakertoshareherviewsintheformofapresentationusing multimediacontentwithaudioandvisualcomponents.Thisissymbolicashosting thewebinarduringtheCovid-19pandemiclockdownwasanawarenessofthe‘new world’wewereentering.Wewereredefiningourmodesofoperations,andwewere becomingawareofthingsretainingtheirnormalitybutwithanewmeaning.Clearly, ourworkplace, justlikeourhomes,hadtoaccommodate thechanges andthenew patterns brought about due to the pandemic. We needed a new equation to feel at homeinourinteractionswithourstudents,colleaguesbothwiththosebasedinDelhi andalsoelsewhereinthecountry.Itbroughttherealizationthatourlittleworldhas changedbutyetissetinfamiliarwaysofinteractionsquiteappropriatelyandsimilar totheselectionofthetopicofourwebinar. Theideatotransformthepresentationsatthewebinarandthefollowingdiscus- sionsalongwithcertaincontributionsfromothercolleaguesinthedepartmentintoa volumewerepartoftheunlockphaseinthecountrythoughitstillconsistedofdoing workintheonlinemodefromhome.Thisatmosphereofbalancinghomeandwork Prologue ix in the pandemic situation with its many demands and adjustments was in certain ways characteristic of what most people were going through in their lives. Things had changed and were continuously evolving innew patterns bringing innew sets ofproblemsbutalsoretainingoldones.Ontheotherhand,therealsoemergednew waysofaccommodatingpractices,behaviourleadingtocertaincommonfavourable grounds for interactions be it at the household level, in the communities or in the society.Whatallthismeantsociologicallywasofinteresttoallofus,anditguided our writing work for the different chapters as listed in the contents of the book. This volume is a result of shared academic and empirical experiences of each of theauthorsandvoiceconcernfromasociologicalperspectivewhichismakingits markintheforthcomingliteratureonthepandemicacrosstheworld.Clearly,weall authorscontributingtothisbookviewthepandemicasasocialdisasterasmuchas amedicalonebutwealsolookatcertainopportunitiesarisingfromasociological lenswhichdealwiththeemergingsituationsofthenewnormal. ThisbookispartofthecriticallyimportantresearchonCovid-19byemphasizing sociologicalideascirculatinginpublicandprivatediscussionsinthesociety.Ittakes intoconsiderationthesocialimpactofissuesrelatedtoCovid-19.Thiscommentary exploresthewaysinwhichdifferentsocialthoughtsshedlightontheimplicationsof Covid-19forthedifferentsetsofpeople.Ourworkisexploratoryasitprovidessome understanding of the impacts of the Covid-19 virus and engages us with changing circumstancesofthewaysinwhichindividuals,families,communities,institutions andsocietyatlargearegettingaffectedandalsotryingtobuildstrategiesforcoping. We are looking at what can be called ‘normal’ during the pandemic and what is changing from the past or not in the new reality. We hope this book will influ- ence further sociological research and theoretical underpinnings on the Covid-19 pandemic in the future. All the three editors of this book enjoyed putting together thisbookandwishyouwouldfinditinterestingreadingit. MalaKapurShankardass AssociateProfessor DepartmentofSociology MaitreyiCollege UniversityofDelhi NewDelhi,India Contents Introduction:TheNewNormal—HomeandtheWorldThrough theLookingGlass ................................................. 1 GopiDevduttTripathy GenderingthePandemic:RevisitingtheDomesticSpaceinTimes ofCovid-19 ....................................................... 19 RashiBhargava Home,theVulnerableandthePandemic ............................. 35 MalaKapurShankardass Bringing the World Inside Home: Media, Advertisements andChangingFormsofConsumerism ............................... 51 PratishaBorborahandJyotiDas Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences andImplications .................................................. 75 ArunaGrover DealingwiththeFearandSocialStigmaofthePandemic:Medley ofPreventiveHealthcarePracticesinIndia .......................... 93 AnuritaJalan LockingDowntheWageLabourersinInformalSector ................ 113 PawanS.Harsana ThePandemicandReliefWork:ExperiencesfromtheField ........... 127 SanaKhan Epilogue:LivingwithCrisis ........................................ 141 xi
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