THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE AFTER THE PANDEMIC CRISIS IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN SOCIETIES

The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of critical junctures of our times. The social sciences, and sociology in particular, are making important efforts to understand how the crisis is evolving and to foresee how our societies may be affected. The impacts of the crisis are unevenly distributed among geographic areas, activity sectors and social collectives. In particular, several areas of Europe have been affected in distinctive ways. This special issue is dedicated to investigating a range of social effects in Southern Europe with a focus on the “social landscape” that is emerging post-crisis. The background assumption of this editorial and the articles in this special issue is that socioeconomic conditions, social arrangements, and institutions have shaped the social impact of the pandemic, together with the capacities to react in the public sphere and citizens’ resilience. Southern European countries are a strategic research site for observing such effects, because of their distinctive social configurations. The five articles in the special issue study in detail the hidden unemployment in vulnerable collectives, the reactions expressed on digital social networks, the effects on and collective action of cultural workers and artists, health perception during confinement, and social innovation related to caring for childhood. Some contributions are of a comparative nature and look at several countries. Others focus on specific countries and regions. They provide key insights for understanding the social significance of the pandemic and the peculiarities of Southern Europe.