Social Constraint and Self-Control in Times of Pandemic Crisis

Social Constraint and Self-Control in Times of Pandemic crisis

This session aims to bring together research on how the Covid 19 pandemic contributed to the acceptance of new constraints and strengthened people's self-control mechanisms. The health context gave rise to the emergence of a plurality of initiatives without any real legal legitimacy, in order to enforce « appropriate » behaviors such as social distancing, lockdowns, or curfews, with the more or less explicit endorsement of local and national authorities. These initiatives include the creation of vigilantes, the multiplication of media campaigns, stigmatization in certain professional circles, and awareness-raising actions in commercial establishments.

The expected papers will focus on the processes of integration of the rules by individuals or the concrete actions carried out by groups of citizens to enforce the new norms. In an attempt to go beyond the binary relationship between the state and individuals, the organizers encourage proposals for papers on the role played by intermediary institutions (police, local administrations, schools, mass media, companies) in the diffusion and interpretation of these norms. In order to make the session as rich as possible, the diversity of cases and countries studied will be taken into account in the selection of contributions.