Since its emergence in early 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has affected every part of the world. Well beyond its health effects, the pandemic has wrought major changes in people’s everyday lives as they confront restrictions imposed by physical distancing and consequences such as loss of work, working or learning from home and reduced contact with family and friends. This edited collection covers a diverse range of experiences, practices and representations across international contexts and cultures (UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). Together, these contributions offer a rich account of COVID society. They provide snapshots of what life was like for people in a variety of situations and locations living through the first months of the novel coronavirus crisis, including discussion not only of health-related experiences but also the impact on family, work, social life and leisure activities. The socio-material dimensions of quotidian practices are highlighted: death rituals, dating apps, online musical performances, fitness and exercise practices, the role of windows, healthcare work, parenting children learning at home, moving in public space as a blind person and many more diverse topics are explored. In doing so, the authors surface the feelings of strangeness and challenges to norms of practice that were part of many people’s experiences, highlighting the profound affective responses that accompanied the disruption to usual cultural forms of sociality and ritual in the wake of the COVID outbreak and restrictions on movement. The authors show how social relationships and social institutions were suspended, re-invented or transformed while social differences were brought to the fore. At the macro level, the book includes localised and comparative analyses of political, health system and policy responses to the pandemic, and highlights the differences in representations and experiences of very different social groups, including people with disabilities, LGBTQI people, Dutch Muslim parents, healthcare workers in France and Australia, young adults living in northern Italy, performing artists and their audiences, exercisers in Australia and New Zealand, the Latin cultures of Spain and Italy, Asian-Americans and older people in Australia. This volume will appeal to undergraduates and postgraduates in sociology, cultural and media studies, medical humanities, anthropology, political science and cultural geography.

The threats of emerging diseases have shaken certainties about health systems, the effectiveness of governance, lifestyles and the reality of national sovereignty. The Covid-19 Crisis analyzes the global issues related to the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through investigations and reflections related to both the epidemic itself (epidemiology, computerized surveillance tools and vaccines) and to the societal issues it raises (work, innovation, religious practices, behaviors and societal models). This eclectic approach highlights scientific working methods that meet the requirements of health crises, as well as technical solutions and societal practices adapted to epidemic situations. It also presents feedback and testimonies.

2020 introduced a global pandemic that led to global economic, social, and regional lockdowns affecting public life in ways never been imagined before. This book takes a look at how researchers from fields encompassing economics and political science, along with thought leaders in business and economic policy, experienced the crises themselves as experts in their field, as well as from a personal viewpoint. Most importantly, however, it looks into the future how entrepreneurship and economic policies may change and positively influence the societies and the economy after the pandemic. Keeping in mind that, with climate change and the digital revolution, change was already around the corner and inevitable, renowned economic and policy experts are asked for their assessment of future roads and feasible economic policies. The book follows the chronology of the pandemic and focuses on leading researchers and thought leaders in public policy and business. An introduction to each chapter describes the context particular to the contributing author when the pandemic struck and their own reactions, experiences, and insights triggered by the emerging pandemic.

This book looks at how sport and sports organisations have had to innovate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Against a backdrop of lockdowns, empty stadia and a fast-moving public health crisis, the book presents fascinating case studies of innovation and crisis management in sport, with valuable lessons to be learned for preparedness and resilience in future crises. The book explores how managerial processes have evolved during the pandemic in areas as diverse as sports communication, youth sport, sports events, esports, sports tourism, and physical activity, in both professional and community settings. It considers the fundamental importance of technology as a tool of innovation, and considers how different stakeholder groups, from governing bodies to athletes to fans, have developed new pathways of engagement and what that might mean for the future development of the sport industry. This book is fascinating reading for any student, researcher, practitioner or policy maker looking to better understand this profound moment in the history of sport and society, and to anybody with an interest in key themes in sport business and management, such as innovation, crisis management or consumer behaviour.

The 2020 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook focuses on worker security and the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has re-shaped organizations on many levels: resource, process, structural and relational. Such a wide range of forced changes has resulted in a greater need to implement risk management principles and procedures to secure an organization's position in the market. This book presents selected and key aspects of managing contemporary organizations in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, enriched with empirical analyses relating to various countries of the world. This edited collected focuses on clarifying and solving basic management dilemmas, integrated issues of risk management and organization security in light of changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It specifically explores the following common problem areas, across industries and sectors, using theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives: financial, economic and regulatory conditions for management processes in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic; management of information resources and security in the conditions of the development of the phenomenon of digital risk and e-commerce; shaping relationships with stakeholders, with particular emphasis on relationships with customers in the conditions of sales processes; shaping the processes of creating and diffusing knowledge, with particular emphasis on the activities of educational entities. Organizational Management and the COVID-19 Crisis will be directly relevant for researchers and academics across a range of management disciplines, including strategic management, risk management, organizational studies, information and knowledge management and related fields.