John R. HallUC, Santa Cruz and Davis One hundred years ago, on June 14th, Max Weber, then 56, died of pneumonia, possibly a victim of the “Spanish flu.” Little more than a year earlier he’d given his “Politics as a vocation” lecture (Hall 2019). As Marianne Weber recounted, in his last days her husband anxiously engaged with German politics and debated the attractive but daunting … Continue reading Time, Culture, and Covid-19

David L. AltheideArizona State University During the terrifying 2020 pandemic that was killing thousands of Americans, President Trump tweeted:  “President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise…(President Trump … Continue reading The Mediatized President and the Pandemic

Austin van LoonStanford University A striking pattern that we see in Americans’ response to the coronavirus pandemic is the variation in response predictable by political party identification. Specifically, American Republicans are much less likely than American Democrats to engage in and endorse health behaviors that are at the time of writing recommended by the World Health Organization (Kushner Gadarian et al 2020). From the perspective … Continue reading Health Behavior Disparities Along Party Lines and Associative Diffusion

Simone Rambotti Loyola University New Orleans In late February 2020, Italy became the European epicenter of the novel coronavirus contagion. The Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (the national body that deals with emergencies) began publicly sharing data on February 24: 221 people were confirmed as positive and 7 dead. Four days later, the CDC travel recommendation for Italy went from level 2 (Practice Enhanced Precautions) to … Continue reading Bridging Physical Distance: Solidarity Rituals During the Early Stage of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Italy

Marta SoligoUniv. of Nevada – Las Vegas When, on March 11, the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced a strict stay-at-home order for the whole country, media worldwide broadcasted pictures of unusually empty Italian piazzas (squares). Those images, which soon became the symbol of COVID-19 in Italy, mirrored the shock of a society for whom urban social life is vital. For centuries, urban centers—especially piazzas—represented … Continue reading Urban Social Life on Hold: Italian Communities and COVID-19

Rebecca Jean EmighCorey O’MalleyUC, Los Angeles In the time of COVID-19, tools for remote learning, exemplified by the now-ubiquitous videoconferencing platform Zoom, have gone from convenience to necessity. As faculty rushed to move classes online, they have become suddenly aware of the drawbacks and potentials of such tools. How can they be used effectively to promote learning? The format (manuscripts, books, electronic media, etc.) of … Continue reading Face-to-Face with Zoom?: Remote Teaching During the Coronavirus