Revisiting ‘The Plague’ by Camus: Shaping the ‘social absurdity’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Banerjee, Debanjan; Rao, T.S. Sathyanarayana; Kallivayalil, Roy Abraham; Javed, Afzal

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102291

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The current confrontation with death that is similar to other disasters in the history of the twentieth century will lead to recognizing the importance of existentially oriented approaches. Camus's work can be understood as a symbol of the current return to these approaches, because as Banerjee et al (2020) discuss, Camus's work recalls the absurdity of death and the resulting anxiety and its role in social response.…”

Section: Sense Of Absurdity and Perpetual Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Albert Camus and Management: Opening the Discussion on the Contributions of his Work

Müller

2021

Philosophy of Management

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This article responds to a call from Philosophy of Management (Vandekerckhove 2020) to open a discussion on the contribution of Albert Camus's work to management. The aim of this article is to argue that Camus's sense of cyclicality related to the recurrence of crises is particularly important for existential management. This idea is embodied primarily by Camus's famous retelling of the myth of Sisyphus, which is not only a provocative metaphor of his thoughts, as discussed by many authors, but is also an inspiring expression of the idea of revolt, which is further developed in Camus's later work. The article focuses on recent updates to Camus's Sisyphean revolt in existentially oriented approaches to management. These are mainly the concepts of the existential manager, an analysis of managerial lived experience within existential hermeneutic phenomenology, and the perspective of an absurd organization. Camus's motif of cyclicality represents a stimulating framework for analysing lived managerial experience, which is characterized by alternating phases of success and failure. The article also draws attention to other important motives in Camus's work, such as avoiding extremes and idealistic constructs, and expressing the value of human life as a basis for ethical behaviour. All the mentioned motives are closely related to the concept of revolt. This article also provides several explanatory comments on the editorial, which help to take a closer look at Camus's style of thinking and avoid possible misinterpretations. In this respect, the distinction between Camus's approach and forms of existentialism is particularly important.

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Section: Sense Of Absurdity and Perpetual Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Albert Camus and Management: Opening the Discussion on the Contributions of his Work

Müller

2021

Philosophy of Management

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“…Salgın hastalıklar tarihine bakıldığında, belirli grupların salgınlar sürecinde ve sonrasında hastalığı yaymakla suçlandığı ve bu suçlamaların hedef gruplara yöneltilen ayrımcı davranışların yükselmesine zemin hazırladığı ve bu davranışları meşrulaştırdığı görülür. Kara Veba salgınında Yahudiler (Banerjee, Kallivayalil ve Rao, 2020), AIDS salgını sırasında eşcinseller (Ruel ve Campbell, 2006), 2003 SARS salgınında Çin kökenli kişiler (Eichelberger, 2007), Kolera döneminde göçmenler (Perry ve Donini-Lenhoff, 2010) günah keçisi ilan edilmiştir. Salgın hastalıklar sürecinde azınlık grupların maruz kaldığı ayrımcı tutum ve davranışlar arasında ötekileştirme, tedaviden yoksun bırakma, suçlama ve fiziksel şiddet eylemleri yer alır (Banerjee, ve ark., 2020;Perry ve Donini-Lenhoff, 2010).…”

Section: Pandemilerin Gruplar Arası Ayrımcılık üZerindeki Etkileriunclassified

Gruplar Arası Temas Kuramı Açısından COVID-19 Pandemisinde Önyargıları Azaltma Yolları

Eniç

2021

OPUS Uluslararası Toplum Araştırmaları Dergisi

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It is seen that the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seriously changed living practices all over the world, significantly affects the relationships between groups. The main objectives of the present study are to examine the reflections of the COVID-19 pandemic on discriminatory attitudes and behaviors between groups and to offer solutions through the intergroup contact framework for what can be done to reduce prejudices directed to outgroups during pandemic. Intergroup Contact Theory, in which it is claimed that the contact experiences between groups reduce negative attitudes and behaviors towards the outgroups through various psychological mechanisms, is one of the most important approaches developed in the social psychology literature to reduce prejudices. In the COVID-19 pandemic, whose spread rate increases through social interactions, it is seen that face-to-face interactions with others decrease significantly. Within the scope of this article, an answer to the question of how intergroup interactions can be preserved during the pandemic was sought and various suggestions were presented regarding what can be done to increase intergroup contact during COVID-19, based on the expended, imagined and vicarious contact approaches defined as indirect contact theories and the online contact approach.

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“…In doing so, Camus points out what makes life worth enduring after allthe struggle of Sisyphus towards the height which is enough to fill a man's heart and imagine Sisyphus happy. (Camus, 1955) While humans stand in solidarity, struggling against an invisible enemy, many rare species of flora and fauna come back to the surface; plants live longer and air becomes clearer which has been termed as 'reverse chaos' in recent times (Banerjee et al, 2020). This implies that The Plague is not a tale of suffering or humanity overcoming the Absurd, but simply coming to terms with it as renowned sculptor Bernini once said, "Where there is death, there is a new meaning."…”

Section: How We Can Approach the Disease?mentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Through the Lens of Camus: Parallels and Solutions from the Absurd in The Plague

Talwar¹

2021

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In a situation put forward by the novel Coronavirus where the masses are forced to confront the vulnerability of their lives, La Peste or 'The Plague' by French philosopher Albert Camus, written in 1947, urges people to re-think their choices as a society and the safety measures taken by the authorities. The novel also issues warnings for its readers on one of the greatest flaw of humankindunpreparednessto take home and contemplate about. This paper, through a critique of the novel, establishes parallels between The Plague's events and the material and metaphysical problems we face as a society today. Moreover, this paper also explores Camus' philosophy of the Absurd and how, through its lens, one can identify and overcome the struggles of existence when a populist threat like the Coronavirus pandemic emerges.

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Revisiting ‘The Plague’ by Camus: Shaping the ‘social absurdity’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

Albert Camus and Management: Opening the Discussion on the Contributions of his Work

Albert Camus and Management: Opening the Discussion on the Contributions of his Work

Gruplar Arası Temas Kuramı Açısından COVID-19 Pandemisinde Önyargıları Azaltma Yolları

COVID-19 Through the Lens of Camus: Parallels and Solutions from the Absurd in The Plague

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