Social Movements and Politics during COVID-19: Crisis, Solidarity and Change in a Global Pandemic

Description

Bringing together leading authors in the sociology and social movement fields from all continents, this unique book explores both the global echoes of the pandemic and the different local and national responses adopted by different actors. The pandemic has generated a cycle of temporary deglobalization and many uncertainties. Many states have closed their borders. Travelling and mobility around the world have sharply reduced. But the virus does not stop at closed borders. In fact, it reveals how deeply connected and interdependent we all are. The contributors reveal how the pandemic exacerbates inequalities across the world, whilst opening up new solidarities and hopes for a better future. The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply shaken societies and lives around the world. This powerful book reveals how the pandemic intensifies socio-economic problems and inequalities across the world, whilst offering visions for a better future informed by social movements and public sociology. Bringing together experts from 27 countries, the authors explore the global echoes of the pandemic and the different responses adopted by governments, policy makers and activists. The new expressions of social action, and forms of solidarity and protest are discussed in detail, from the Black Lives Matters protests to the French Strike Movement and the Lebanese Uprising. This is a unique global commentary on the current crisis and the contemporary world.

Breno Bringel is Professor of Sociology at Rio de Janeiro State University and President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements. Geoffrey Pleyers is FNRS Professor at the University of Louvain and Vice-President for Research of the International Sociological Association.

"A fascinating collection of engaged research on the sociological impact of COVID-19 - and on how social movements around the world are responding, challenging states and imagining alternative futures." Laurence Cox, National University of Ireland, Maynooth "Ranging across the globe, this is an invaluable account of the way COVID-19 expresses and amplifies crises and inequalities through movements and counter-movements. It offers diagnoses and future scenarios for our endangered human species." Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley