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| Ural Hatemi |
“It is observed that when the virus affects different societies, different behaviors emerge,” says sociologist Ural Hatemi in an interview with Voice of America, discussing the various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on societies. The sociologist does not rule out the possibility of serious and lasting changes in communities.
In his opinion, it is currently only possible to make predictions about the nature of the changes that will occur in the post-pandemic period:
“Of course, we expect changes, and we have already started to see some of them. We have been seeing this since the pandemic became more serious. However, the main question is to what extent the changes will be in the post-pandemic period. We sometimes see in the media and on social networks that this is exaggerated, blown out of proportion, and deviating from reality... Right now, we can only make some hypotheses and predictions.”
Ural Hatemi states that the COVID-19 pandemic will have different sociological effects in different societies, as well as among various social and demographic groups within a particular society.
“I don’t think it’s possible to talk about specific impacts at the moment. Whatever society we are talking about, we need to go there, investigate, and examine it. Since the virus is still here today, there is no cure or vaccine for it, and people are practicing social distancing. What will happen tomorrow when the cure for the virus is found? It is not possible to predict that concretely right now,” the researcher says.
He adds, “However, one thing is certain: it will have an impact. No event enters and exits any society without leaving a mark. It will leave its impact and then leave. The level of this impact and the direction it will take needs to be studied in the future.”
The sociologist also points out that it is possible to make some predictions by examining the results of past global events.
“After World War II, the concept of a welfare state, a social state, emerged worldwide... But in the 1970s, with the emergence of a global economic crisis, we can say that this entire system collapsed. After 1980, with the emergence of the neo-liberal system, we saw a regression in social and welfare states. In other words, we could clearly see the sociological, political, and economic impacts of that economic crisis,” Hatemi notes.
He emphasizes that the current global economic problems may also lead to significant changes.
“Today, we see that the price of oil has dropped significantly. The global economic balance has started to shake, to tremble. It has affected the economy, trade, and everything. Of course, as we saw in the 1970s, we will see the results of this in societies. That neo-liberal system that has been dominant in the world until today, where will it go? Will states allocate more of their budgets for the welfare of the people? Will that neo-liberal system withdraw a bit and settle into its place?”
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Ural Hatəmi: Pandemiyanın davranışlara uzun dönəmli təsirləri istisna olunmur