The Future of Humanity - COVID-19 Onuorah 1 COVID-19 & The Social Sciences - Annotated Bibliography Berinato, S. (2020). That discomfort you're feeling is grief. Harvard Business Review. <https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief?fbclid=IwAR09ya-btwjGMe8vQCIQ1scULHwDqR 1ZCet_g8cZFEJntBHbMsuMG0fINAc> This article teaches about the different types of grief and the importance of patience to help readers overcome the complex feelings resulting from the pandemic. This article states that one cannot control external factors; their grief response is natural. What one has control over is their choice to accept and work through that grief. The article suggests balancing one’s negative thoughts with positive ones, releasing uncontrollable aspects of life, and centring oneself in the present as strategies to manage anxiety or unhealthy anticipatory grief. Overall, COVID-19 has removed people’s collective sense of safety, leaving a lasting societal effect on mental health. The advice given in this article might not apply to people with urgent needs, such as homelessness or food insecurity. They cannot alleviate their anxiety by focusing on their current situation because it is just as stressful as their grief. The article represents a psychological viewpoint. Anticipatory and collective grief are emotions and aspects of mental health. It discusses mental balance, as well. Psychology is the study of cognitive processes and behaviour. This article embodies the humanist branch of psychology because it focuses on the patient’s understanding of themself. The creation of the “meaning” stage in the stages of grief is reminiscent of a search for self-actualization characteristic of this branch. Also, the "denial" stage is similar to the ego defence mechanism described by Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalyst. Hong, C. P. (2020). The slur I never expected to hear in 2020. The New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/magazine/asian-american-discrimination-coronavirus.html> The article raises awareness about the anti-Asian discrimination that has been present throughout history and how racists use the pandemic as an excuse to act more vicious toward Asian Americans. The article reveals the twofold isolation that they are facing out of fear for their health and fear of prejudice. The article states that anti-Asian racism is often minimized, denied, or seen as a distraction from more pressing issues; the pandemic reveals how insidious it always has been and can become. The pandemic set ablaze a vindictive and xenophobic racism, more visible than society has seen in the past. The overall perspective of the article is that the coronavirus reveals the white supremacist underpinnings of the world and puts the infrastructure built to support some people and limit others into full display. The pandemic has also amplified the racism that minority groups face daily. Asian Americans have become a scapegoat for the virus, suffering because of violence against them and the virus itself. The article does not consider anti-Asian hate as it concerns the Asian Canadian identity, which could contribute to the spreading of the stereotype that there is little to no racism in Canada. This article represents an anthropological perspective. The worldview propping up American xenophobia is one of ethnocentrism, which involves judging another culture based on what is known from one’s own culture. There are many discussions of race, culture, and acculturation in describing the differences in lifestyles in Korea versus America, the misguided conflation of various Asian nationalities as one culture, and the life and identity of an immigrant of Asian heritage and American citizenship. The acculturation model from John Berry can describe some of the archetypes mentioned in the article. Perlow, J. (2020). COVID-19: Here's how one pandemic will change our lives, forever. ZDNET. <https://www.zdnet.com/article/covid-19-how-one-pandemic-will-change-our-lives-forever/> This article discusses the progressive reliance the world is developing on technology and the groups who may suffer and succeed under this new way of life. This article predicts the societal changes that COVID-19 will bring to task completion and communication. The article states that streaming online will be more favoured than theatres and concerts. Discerning misinformation will increase the public’s chance of survival. The institutions of education and the workplace will see improvements and setbacks due to the changes the pandemic will force them to undergo. Overall, the increased dependence on the Internet and The Future of Humanity - COVID-19 Onuorah 2 technology due to the pandemic might not have a strong enough infrastructure to support it. The article also stresses that access to technology is paramount for people to thrive while being physically isolated. That said, this article omits the multiplied difficulty that people with disabilities will face in this newly isolated world. Some technology may not be accessible enough. Those who are not entirely self-reliant may have more trouble getting external help. This article offers a sociological perspective. It takes a macro approach to examine the effects of the pandemic on society on a larger scale. It discusses how society’s values and norms change under pressure and over time. Society values social interaction, but how people socially interact will have to change. The author speaks through a functionalist and symbolic interactionist lens. The loss of meaning in losing personal interaction speaks to the latter and the need to improve institutions to serve people speaks to the former.
