Abstract
Even though the world looks to have irreversibly changed since 2020, many social scientists are still looking at social life through a pre-Covid-19 lens. The evidence for this is present in the slow generation of empirical research during and in the aftermath, which could possibly generate new theoretical means to understand what this may mean for the generations to come. Major social change is underway. Almost every facet of social life is being rewritten right before our very eyes. The lockdowns, social distancing, and other measures implemented to ‘control’ the spread of Covid-19 have revolutionised the functioning of political and social institutions and have altered the platforms of social interactions and human relations. Yet the sublime ideological alignment of governments, the media, and law enforcement agencies in favour of these measures has radically polarised society as well as intensified present inequalities while simultaneously creating new ones in the process. All the while, all manner of historical, political, and social, as well as, importantly, medical context has been absent in the face of all this. Unless it moves quickly, criminology could well miss an opportunity to show its true multidisciplinary colours. This chapter seeks to give a general overview of this change in the context of social life, crime, and criminology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For a summary of these papers see extensive literature reviews in both Briggs et al. (2020, 2022).
References
Awaludin, A. (2020). Overcriminalization due to moral panic Covid-19 pandemic. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 499, 613–624. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201209.344
Bhopal, S., Bagaria, J., Olabi, B., & Bhopal, R. (2021). Children and young people remain at low risk of Covid-19 mortality. The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, published online 10th March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00066-3
Briggs, D., Ellis, A., Lloyd, A., & Telford, L. (2020). New hope or old futures in disguise? Neoliberalism, the Covid-19 pandemic and the possibility for social change. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 40(9/10), 831–848.
Briggs, D., Ellis, A., Lloyd, A., & Telford, L. (2021a). Researching the Covid-19 pandemic: A critical blueprint for the social sciences. Bristol University Press.
Briggs, D., Ellis, A., Telford, L., & Lloyd, A. (2021b). Working, living, and dying in Covid times: Perspectives from frontline residential care workers in the UK. Safer Communities, 20(3), 208–222.
Briggs, D., Ellis, A., Lloyd, A., Telford, L., & Kotzé, J. (2021c). Lockdown: Social harm in the Covid-19 Era. Palgrave Macmillan.
DeGarmo, M. (2020). Activating embodied imagination during COVID-19: A performative reflexive autoethnography. Qualitative Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1177/2F1077800420962474
Ferguson, N., Laydon, D., Nedjati-Gilani, G., et al. (2020). Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce COVID-19 mortality and health care (pp. 1–20). Imperial College London. https://doi.org/10.25561/77482
Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist realism: Is there no alternative? Zero.
Gates, T., Beazley, H., & Davis, C. (2020). Coping with grief, loss, and well-being during a pandemic: A collaborative autoethnography of international educators during COVID-19. Voices from Practice, International Social Work, 63(6), 782–785. https://doi.org/10.1177/2F0020872820949622
Godin, M. (2020). COVID-19 outbreaks are now emerging in Refugee camps. Why did it take so long for the virus to reach them? In Time, 9th October 2020 cited online at https://time.com/5893135/covid-19-refugee-camps/
Hameleers, M., Van Der Meer, T., & Brosius, A. (2020). Feeling “disinformed” lowers compliance with COVID-19 guidelines: Evidence from the US, UK, Netherlands and Germany. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. Online First. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-023
Heneghan, C., Dietrich, M., Brassey, J., Jefferson, T., & Kay, A. J. (2021, December 3). CG report 6: Effects of COVID-19 in care homes – A mixed methods review. Collateral Global. Version 1. https://collateralglobal.org/article/effects-of-covid-19-in-care-homes/
Institute for Economics & Peace. (2020). Global peace index measuring peace in a complex world. Sydney.
Koh, W., Naing, L., & Wong, J. (2020). Estimating the impact of physical distancing measures in containing Covid 19: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 100, 42–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.08.026
Labib, M. (2020). Analysing rejection of corpse infected by Covid-19 in the perspective of moral panic and FIQH social theories. Santri: Journal of Pesantren and Fiqh Sosial, 1(1), 71–86.
Li,Y.,Yao, L., Jiawei, L., Lei, C., Song,Y., Cai, Z., &Yang, C. (2020). Stability issues of RT- PCR testing of SARS-CoV-2 for hospitalized patients clinically diagnosed with COVID-19. Journal of Medical Virology, 92(7), 903–908.
Logan, K. (2020). Save lives, protect the NHS: An auto-ethnography of a community Midwife during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity, online first, 1–5. http://journals.hw.ac.uk/index.php/IPED/article/view/90
Long, N., & Khoi, B. (2020). An empirical study about the intention to hoard food during COVID-19 pandemic. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 16(7), em1857. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/8207
Primrose, D., Chang, R., & Loeppky, R. (2020). Pandemic unplugged: Covid-19, public health and the persistence of neoliberalism. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 85, 17–28. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.212825816337612
Satawedin, P. (2020). Moral panics and COVID-19: Are we panic ourselves or do Media make us panic? BU Academic Review, 19(2), 207–224.
Scroll. (2021). Covid lockdown: Over 8,700 people, many of them migrant workers, died along railway tracks in 2020. Scroll, 3rd June 2021 cited online at https://scroll.in/latest/996519/covid-lockdown-over-8700-people-many-of-them-migrant-workers-died-along-railway-tracks-in-2020
Ward, P. (2020). A sociology of the Covid-19 pandemic: A commentary and research agenda for sociologists. Journal of Sociology, 56(4), 726–735. https://doi.org/10.1177/2F1440783320939682
Warmbrod, K., Montague, M., & Gronvall, G. (2021). COVID-19 and the gain of function debates. Science and Society, 22(e53739), 1–5.
Winlow, S., Hall, S., Treadwell, J., & Briggs, D. (2015). Riots and political protest: Notes from the post-political present. Routledge.
Wright Mills, C. (1959). The sociological imagination. University Open Press.
Žižek, S. (2020). Pandemic: Covid-19 shakes the world. OR Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Briggs, D. (2023). The Future Is Already Here: Covid-19, Criminology, and Crime. In: Faria, R., Dodge, M. (eds) Qualitative Research in Criminology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18401-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18401-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-18400-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-18401-7
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)