Epidemics Eroding Public Life: An Analysis on the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Epidemics have several impacts on different dimensions of the social structure. First of all, epidemicsbring people to change many routines in their daily life and to rearrange their lives. Discussing theimpact of epidemics on social life in the context of COVID-19 will allow us to understand that thisprocess, which seems only a medical process, actually has many social effects. This study focuses on theCovid-19 pandemic as an inducement of the rising individuality of modern man under the light ofSennett’s affirmation regarding the fall of public man. To this end, changes in consumption of goodsand spaces, medicalization of daily life, the effect of the experience of lockdown during the pandemic onthe self and consequently the disruption of the interaction order were analyzed. During the pandemic,the issue of individuals' retreat into their own private sphere and the growth of private life and privatesphere asymmetrically in the face of public sphere and public life were addressed. As a result, thelockdowns experienced during the pandemic negatively affected the social self and the interaction order,accelerating the collapse of the public man which is a process that has been going on for a long time.