Sociological Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic in India: Redefining the Normal

Description

This book presents a sociological study of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of India. It invites readers to understand disasters and crises as triggers of radical transformations in society, changing the very nature of every day and the meaning of normal. It discusses the processes through which society accepts, internalizes and reinvents a new way of life. It provides insights into its impact on the individual, family, economy and the state and the relationships not only between them but also within them. The chapters draw attention to the concerns of the vulnerable sections of the population – the aged, children, women, the disabled, migrant labour and the economically backward classes. The chapters are written in an engaging style, and each chapter investigates the way societies think about the risk, threat and harm and the ways to navigate crises of all kinds. As such, the book provides a key read for academics, students and administrators, as well as general readers confronted by an existential crisis caused by the pandemic. Acknowledgements Prologue Contents About the Editors Introduction: The New Normal—Home and the World Through the Looking Glass 1 Elements of a Crisis 2 Seeing the Extraordinary in the Everyday 3 The Pandemic: Event and the Crisis 4 The Predicament References Gendering the Pandemic: Revisiting the Domestic Space in Times of Covid-19 1 Methodology 2 Homemakers, Homemaking and Housework: Theoretical Considerations 3 Housework and Homemaking: Perceptions from the Field 4 Space–Time Dis-rupture: Home and Domestic Space During Covid-19 5 Concluding Remarks References Home, the Vulnerable and the Pandemic 1 The World of the Children Living with Families During the Pandemic 2 Older People and the Pandemic 3 People with Disabilities, Certain Concerns Regarding Their Vulnerability 4 Concluding Comment References Bringing the World Inside Home: Media, Advertisements and Changing Forms of Consumerism 1 Outline of the Chapter 2 Methodology 3 Internet, Entertainment and Social Media: Its Growth and Changes 4 Advertisements and the New Marketing Strategies 4.1 Advertisements and Change in Content 4.2 Advertisements and Ethnic Branding 5 The Middle Class and the Changing Forms of Consumerism 6 Conclusion References Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences and Implications 1 Outline of the Chapter 2 Exclusion from Technology: The Digital Divide 2.1 Internet Connectivity Is Distant: Electricity Supply in the Villages 2.2 Technology Skills of Stakeholders 3 Social Aspects of Exclusion 3.1 The Class Factor: Exclusion of the Underprivileged 3.2 The Exclusion Faced by Girls and Women 4 Disability and Exclusion: The Invisible Children 5 The Measures Taken by the State and Education Institutions 5.1 The New Education Policy 2020 and Online Education: Long-Term Plans 6 Conclusion References Dealing with the Fear and Social Stigma of the Pandemic: Medley of Preventive Healthcare Practices in India 1 Disease, Illness and Health 2 Indigenous Systems and Ethnomedicine 3 Hegemony of Modern Medicine 4 Medical Pluralism in the Indian Context 5 The Pandemic Vocabulary, Fear and Stigma 6 Pandemic Logic: The Medley of Preventive Healthcare Remedies 7 Healthcare and Inequitable Resources 8 Limitations of the Healthcare System 9 Conclusion References Locking Down the Wage Labourers in Informal Sector 1 Working Class and Informal—Formal Sector 2 Class Inequality in India 2.1 Colonial Era 1858–1947 2.2 After Independence 3 Covid-19 and Informal Sector Workers 4 Conclusion References The Pandemic and Relief Work: Experiences from the Field 1 Effects of the Pandemic on the Vulnerable Sections of the Society 2 Domestic Workers: A Struggle to Make Ends Meet 3 Migrants: On Foot, On the Move 4 Role of the State: Efforts and Failures of the Indian Government 5 Relief Work: Role of Civil Society, NGOs and Citizen’s Collectives Reference Epilogue: Living with Crisis 1. Bearing Witness 2. The State and Crisis 3. The human face of the pandemic Death and immortality The logic of crisis Contours of crisis References