ABSTRACT

This paper considers the societal consequences of the coronavirus crisis through the lens of critical social theory, advancing a social-theoretical perspective as its main contribution. The central argument is that the question of post-pandemic societal transformation be examined in terms of the pre-existing legitimation crisis of neoliberalism. This is developed through three steps. First, a theoretical framework is outlined for considering social transformation in terms of discursively mediated collective learning processes. Then, two loci of the legitimation crisis of neoliberalism are explored, the political crisis and the climate crisis, to delineate a series of antagonistic fronts shaping the contestation of this model. From this, two broad social movements contending for control of societal development emerge: radical-pluralism and reactionary-populism. Finally, the coronavirus crisis is briefly considered in terms of its interaction with this cleavage.

抽象的

本文从批判性社会理论的角度考虑了冠状病毒危机的社会后果，并提出了社会理论观点作为其主要贡献。中心论点是，应根据先前存在的新自由主义的合法化危机来研究大流行后的社会转型问题。这是通过三个步骤开发的。首先，概述了一个理论框架，用于通过话语介导的集体学习过程来考虑社会转型。然后，探讨了新自由主义的合法化危机的两个根源，即政治危机和气候危机，以描绘出一系列构成这一模型对抗性的对立战线。由此，出现了两个争取控制社会发展的广泛的社会运动：激进的多元主义和反动的民粹主义。最后，根据与这种切割的相互作用，简要考虑了冠状病毒危机。