Surfacing, intensifying and accelerating: how COVID-19 changed social relations in Quanzhou, China
Loading...
Citations
Altmetric:
Altmetric::
Download
Associated Records
Authors
File Licence
Editors
Date
2020
Source Title
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Melbourne Authors
Affiliation
School of Geography
Document Type
Masters Coursework thesis
Subject Code
Citation
Access Status
Only available to University of Melbourne staff and students, login required
DOI
Access URL
Open Access URL
Open Access at PMC
Linked Resource URL
NHMRC Grant Code
ARC Grant Code
Description
© 2020 Bin Wang
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a variety of social, political and economic changes at the global scale. In examining the changing social relations under the influence of the pandemic, this thesis reports the findings of an empirical investigation undertaken in Quanzhou, China. While COVID-19 is considered an overwhelming crisis that created a series of disruptions in people’s everyday lives, it is shown here that the pandemic has influenced the ways people interact with others in a more complex and ambiguous manner. Changes include conflicts occurred to parent-child relationships and spousal relationships in private spaces, as well as othering and digitisation of urban life in public spaces. By examining the observed changes, this thesis demonstrates that rather than being the source of changes, COVID-19 and the resulting policies have played a critical role in surfacing, intensifying and accelerating existing process of change in people’s social relations in the private and public spheres of Quanzhou. It is also evident that through these influences, the pandemic has the potential to facilitate a ‘bounce forward’ from society’s former equilibrium to a new state.
Notes
Terms of Use
Terms and Conditions: Copyright in works deposited in Minerva Access is retained by the copyright owner. The work may not be altered without permission from the copyright owner. Readers may only download, print and save electronic copies of whole works for their own personal non-commercial use. Any use that exceeds these limits requires permission from the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from these works.
Keywords
social relations, COVID-19