The Taming Disease: How Long Covid Crushes Previous Socializations

• In Event: Sociology of the Body and Embodiment Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Bodies & Health

Abstract

This paper examines how the physical impairments of Long Covid disrupt and reshape previously incorporated somatic cultures. Moving beyond identity-centric approaches in the sociology of chronic illness, this study employs a Bourdieusian framework combining the sociology of disease and socialization. Based on 23 biographical interviews and ethnographic observations, the research investigates how class- and gender-related attributes contribute to the persistence of pre-illness social dispositions (hysteresis) despite new, severe physical constraints. The findings demonstrate that the repeated experience of post-exertional malaise systematically crushes the socially prevalent "hypo-somatic mode of attention"—a disposition characterized by low vigilance to alarming bodily sensations, noted to be particularly prevalent among women and former athletes. Consequently, the illness forces the suspension of these discordant habits and necessitates the development of a new "hyper-somatic mode of attention." This newly formed disposition demands heightened sensitivity to bodily limits and rigorous behavioral adaptations to anticipate and prevent symptom escalation. Ultimately, this research argues that chronic illness acts as a sociological catalyst that forcefully silences old somatic dispositions and structurally fashions new ones under the strict pressure of biological and material constraints.

Author

• Mattéo Lanoë, Sciences Po