abstract:

Ontological security describes a state in which individuals feel that their life has meaning, which they and others understand and share; in which their life and continued existence is secure; and in which their sense of self is stable. In social life, this security is challenged from time to time, and acutely so in certain extreme circumstances. This essay argues that the experience of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, with its concomitant mortality and the response of government, have served to challenge ontological security. At the start of lockdown and in the weeks that followed, the government's strategy undermined that sense of security as well as trust in government itself. As the pandemic continued this had quite different consequences for different segments of the population, and these consequences may in turn interact with the disease itself.

摘要：

本体安全描述了一种状态，在这种状态下，个人觉得他们的生活有意义，他们和其他人都理解和分享这种意义；他们的生命和继续存在是安全的；并且他们的自我意识是稳定的。在社会生活中，这种安全感不时受到挑战，在某些极端情况下更是如此。本文认为，英国 COVID-19 的经历及其伴随的死亡率和政府的反应，已经对本体安全提出了挑战。在封锁开始时以及随后的几周内，政府的策略破坏了这种安全感以及对政府本身的信任。随着大流行的继续，这对不同的人群产生了截然不同的后果，