This book provides a global perspective on COVID-19, taking the heterogenous realities of the pandemic into account. Contributions are rooted in critical social science studies of risk and uncertainty and characterized by theoretical approaches such as cultural theory, risk society theory, governmentality perspectives, and many important insights from ¿southern¿ theories.Some of the chapters in the book have a more theoretical-conceptual emphasis, while others are more empirically oriented ¿ but all chapters engage in an insightful dialogue between the theoretical and the empirical, in order to develop a rich, diverse and textured picture of the new challenge the world is facing and responding to. Addressing multiple levels of responses to the coronavirus, as understood in terms of, institutional and governance policies, media communication and interpretation, and the sense-making and actions of individual citizens in their everyday lives, the book brings together a diverse range of studies from across 6 continents. These chapters are connected by a common emphasis on applying critical theoretical approaches which help make sense of, and critique, the responses of states, organisations and individuals to the social phenomena emerging amid the Corona pandemic.

Patrick Brown is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and Editor of the international journal Health, Risk & Society.

Jens O. Zinn is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Melbourne, President of the Thematic group Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty of the International Sociological Association, and Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

Section 1 Theorizing.- 1.  Risk in a Post-Truth Society, Joost Van Loon.- 2. The pandemic COVID19 and decision-making under uncertainty: The Norwegian government's handling of what is said and suppressed, Hafting, Tore.- 3. The Stock Market, Universal Intermediary Power, and State Support in the Face of COVID-19, Dean Curran.- Part 2. Inequalities and Rights.- 4.   COVID-19 in the Sahel : A multidisciplinary risk analysis, Bencherif, Adib.- 5. Social, health and environmental impacts of compulsory isolation in Buenos Aires' settlements, Tobías, Melina and Soledad Fernández Bouzo.- 6. On the justifiability of corona lockdown measures in India's context , Kritika Maheshwari.- Section 3 Governing COVID-19.- 7.  A tsunami of risk and uncertainty in slow-motion, Magdalena Gil & Eduardo A. Undurraga.- 8. Risk and shame in the English lockdown under Covid-19, Jo Warner.- Section 5 Trust and Distrust.- 9. Trust, lockdowns and risk assessment: opinions and behavior across the world, Minna Lundgren.- 10. Social distancing, isolation and lockdown: trust considerations during COVID-19 in Australia, Paul Ward.- Section 6 Public Discourse.- 11. COVID-19 in Argentina: Risks, Media, and Fears in Pandemic Times, Brenda Focas.- 12. Discourses around telework in the Brazilian banking sector: COVID-19 shifting framings of vulnerability and risk, Fernanda Sousa-Duarte.- Section 7 Everyday Life.- 13. Biographies of preparedness: from everyday life to Covid-19 pandemic, Kvarnlöf, Linda.- 14.The Ethics of Risk Research in the time of COVID-19: Privileging the Wellbeing of Girls and Women in the Context of Gender-Based Violence in Rural South Africa, Relebohile Moletsane & Claudia Mitchell.- 15. Risk, Mourning, Politics: The Loneliness of COVID-19 Deaths in Iran, Bayatrizi, Zohreh & Reza Taslimi-Tehrani.- Section 8 Risk and Environment.-  COVID-19 and the Environment, Rolf Lidskog & Adam Standring.