Pandemic Analysis III: The Great Reset, People’s Uprisings, and Other Radical Change Proposals

Abstract

Will the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic lead to revolutions, people’s uprisings, or radical social changes? This chapter reviews four such movements proposed by various groups: the Great Reset; a government-driven capitalism; a Marxist revolution; a trauma-and-tragedy-driven people’s uprising. Some of these proposals are fragilely founded intellectually. To mention one, there is no strong rationale for the society to make a transition toward sustainability or climate change agendas solely because of the COVID-19. Nor there is a strong reason to believe that a government-driven capitalism or a Marxist revolution is the solution to the current and future pandemics. On the other hand, the trauma and tragedies that befell the people may lead to a people’s uprising at the tail end of the pandemic, which seems to be more likely than other movements. The Great Reset movement, however, may turn out to have the most influence on the society if the US infrastructure plan of US$2.2 trillion were to pass into a law.