A key requirement of COVID-19 pandemic behavioural regulations in many countries was for people to ‘physically distance’ from one another, which meant departing radically from established norms of everyday human sociality. Previous research on new norms has been retrospective or prospective, focusing on reported levels of adherence to regulations or the intention to do so. In this paper, we take an observational approach to study the embodied and spoken interactional practices through which people produce or breach the new norm. The dataset comprises 20 ‘self-ethnographic’ fieldnotes collected immediately following walks and runs in public spaces between March and September 2020, and these were analysed in the ethnomethodological tradition. We show that and how the new norm emerged through the mutual embodied and spoken conduct of strangers in public spaces. Orientations to the new norm were observed as people torqued their bodies away from each other in situations where there was insufficient space to create physical distance. We also describe how physical distance was produced unilaterally or was aggressively resisted by some people. Finally, we discuss the practical and policy implications of our observations both for deciding what counts as physical distancing and how to support the public to achieve it.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 时代的互动生产和对新规范的违反：在公共场所实现物理距离

许多国家对 COVID-19 大流行行为法规的一项关键要求是让人们彼此“保持距离”，这意味着从根本上背离既定的日常人类社会规范。以前对新规范的研究是回顾性的或前瞻性的，重点是报告的遵守法规的程度或这样做的意图。在本文中，我们采用观察方法来研究人们产生或违反新规范的具身和口语互动实践。该数据集包括 2020 年 3 月至 2020 年 9 月期间在公共场所散步和跑步后立即收集的 20 个“自我民族志”田野笔记，并在民族方法学传统中进行了分析。我们展示了这一点以及新规范是如何通过陌生人在公共场所的相互体现和口头行为而出现的。当人们在没有足够空间创造物理距离的情况下将身体扭离彼此时，就会观察到新规范的方向。我们还描述了物理距离是如何单方面产生的，或者是如何被一些人积极抵制的。最后，我们讨论了我们的观察对决定什么是物理距离以及如何支持公众实现它的实际和政策影响。我们还描述了物理距离是如何单方面产生的，或者是如何被一些人积极抵制的。最后，我们讨论了我们的观察对决定什么是物理距离以及如何支持公众实现它的实际和政策影响。我们还描述了物理距离是如何单方面产生的，或者是如何被一些人积极抵制的。最后，我们讨论了我们的观察对决定什么是物理距离以及如何支持公众实现它的实际和政策影响。