LIFE, Interrupted

THE CORONAVIRUS has PROVEN ITSELF A THREAT NOT JUST TO OUR HEALTH, BUT ALSO a MAJOR DISRUPTION to SOCIAL HABITS, WORK FLOWS and THE ECONOMY. AS WE ISOLATE OURSELVES in A BID TO FLATTEN THE CURVE, ELLE SINGAPORE ASKS a SOCIOLOGIST, CEO, and FINANCIAL EXPERT (OVER EMAIL) HOW the GLOBAL PANDEMIC is IMPACTING US. AND in BEING FORCED TO ADAPT, THE LESSONS WE can GLEAN FOR LIFE HEREAFTER

- ANDREA SIM

DR ELLIOTT PRASSE-FREEMAN, 39 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY With a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University, Dr Prasse-Freeman currently lectures at the National University of Singapore on topics such as modernity and social change, and is conducting research on the stateless Rohingya people with regards to human rights and biopolitics. He discusses Singapore’s social reaction towards the pandemic, the power of interactions online in a time like this, and how we can rethink our global and local relationships moving forward.

THE SOCIAL ASPECT

Our Current Outlook

In light of past similar instances and in the Singaporean context, Singapore is actually far ahead of other countries because of the social historical memory of the SARS experience. And so when people ask how the world will change as a result of Covid-19, Singapore can say, “Well, how did things change as a result of SARS? Did the contours of sociality change all that much, or did things go back to the same?” I suspect it’ll be something of a hybrid of those two things.

This is obviously a terrible public health disaster that’s devastating people’s lives and health systems, but it can be a chance for those countries who don’t have adequate preparation to make some changes, and it’s possible that there will be those kind of changes. Firstly, I suspect that people will be so excited to be back into the realm of normalcy that they will go back to their regular modes of being, and I don’t know if there will be as much residue as we might expect, now when we’re in the thick of things.