Marking time in lockdown: heroization and ritualization in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

Realism has predominated in discussions about the coronavirus pandemic where politicians, authorities, and commentators debate over the substance and consequence of scientific facts. But while biology played a crucial role in triggering the pandemic, the resulting crisis developed through a social process. In this paper, I argue that the coronavirus pandemic in Britain was successfully framed as a crisis, but that the ritualization of solidarity normally generated by this meaning was compromised. Through an analysis of media coverage and official statements from the government, I trace the discursive construction of the crisis through the deployment of battle metaphors. Building on this discourse analysis, I show how the symbolic alignment of the pandemic and the Second World War revived symbols and tropes that informed the cultural construction of pandemic heroes. To explain why the intensity of the crisis framing was not matched in ritual performance, I consider how the government’s ambiguous policies and erratic social performance produced a state of indefinite liminality, subverting solidarity processes in lockdown. The paper offers insight into the experience of anomie during the pandemic and contributes to the strong program in cultural sociology by incorporating the crisis approach in disaster studies into the social drama framework.

Toward a cultural sociology of disaster: Introduction

“…For instance, scholars have analyzed how governments guessed the “crisis genre” for this new disease, subsequently influencing public health policies that would protest or sacrifice lives ( Morgan 2020 ). Political leaders and citizen groups developed rituals about “fighting COVID,” the performance of which would foster or, alternatively, challenge government authority and civil solidarity ( McCormick 2020 ; Villegas 2020 ). Rhetoric of “pandemic othering,” as exemplified in anti-Asian hate crimes, diverted public awareness from mitigation strategies and compromised the civic membership of immigrants and minorities ( Dionne and Turmen 2020 ).…”

“…Following this dramatic understanding of disasters, cultural sociologists have developed different ways to theorize disasters. For example, Lisa McCormick draws on Victor Turner's theory of drama and Jeffrey C. Alexander's cultural pragmatics ( Turner 1974 ; Alexander 2004 ) to emphasize actors’ efforts of convincing the audience to accept their definitions of disaster situations and corresponding performance, in her case, political actors’ performance during the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom ( McCormick 2020 ). In the beginning of the disaster, both the state actors, including the Prime Minister, and the public invoked the WWII myth, deployed military metaphors, and constructed heroes to understand the situation and achieved meaningful solidarity.…”

“…Even the heroization became shallow when the medical staff desperately needed protective equipment rather than applause. The solidarity gradually gave way to anomie ( McCormick 2020 , 346).…”

Making memory work: The SARS memory and China’s war on COVID-19

“…A crisis is by definition ontological. Borrowing wisdom from anthropological and cultural sociological theories (Alexander, 2006;Alexander et al, 2004;Boin and Hart, 2018;McCormick, 2020;Simko and Olick, 2020;Turner, 1969Turner, , 2018, I regard ontological crisis as a threat to a nation's existential order, identity, and legitimacy, which creates uncertainty and requires interpretation. There are at least three elements in defining an ontological crisis.…”

La societalización de la pandemia en México

“…Este artículo es una aportación desde la esfera civil a los análisis sobre las políticas contra la Covid-19, en el que se enfatiza cómo los medios de comunicación disputan el sentido de las acciones estatales para controlar la pandemia (Demertzis y Eyerman, 2020;McCormick, 2020;Morgan, 2020;Villegas, 2020). 2 Las investigaciones sobre la pandemia en México se han centrado en comprender la emergencia de dispositivos biopolíticos en la gestión de la población (Ortiz Arellano, 2020;Peña, 2020), el peso del populismo en la gestión de la pandemia (Rentería y Arellano-Gault, 2020) o los regímenes de poder/verdad en los discursos oficiales (Murillo, 2020).…”