Changing relationships with institutions during COVID-19: How our relationships to work, school, and government changed

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 12: Health Disparities

Abstract

The precautions enacted when COVID-19 was first detected altered our relationships with the institutions we interacted with daily, such as school and work, and the ones that govern our society, such as local and national governments. Even the family institution had to adjust as many families were suddenly thrust together all day in closed spaces during social distancing or separated for long periods of time due to the demands of dangerous and intense work performed by some family members, or the health concerns of more vulnerable family members.

These unusual circumstances had the potential to increase or cause feelings of strain (Featherstone and Deflem 2003) as goals and norms became inaccessible. They also may have caused people to feel less integrated with these institutions. The high level of regulations in the form of enhanced COVID protocols, combined with low rates of contact with many institutions, as many confined themselves to their homes or to smaller social groups, may have led to fatalism as Bearman envisioned it, low integration with high regulation (Bearman 1991).

Using data from a collection of 61 interviews and 47 follow-up interviews conducted during the first five months and the first year and a half of the pandemic in the U.S., this paper finds that individuals took COVID-19 restrictions as an opportunity to reorient their relationships to institutions such as schooling, workplaces, and medicine. Many hoped to retain the gains they felt that they had made. Parents and employees appreciated being able to reorient their relationships with schools and employers, often choosing to change how they interacted with these institutions or how much time they devoted to them. For interactions with the medical community, however, both medical providers and patients felt stress and fear in their dealings or potential dealings with the medical community during this time.

Author

• Sonya Becker, University at Albany, SUNY