We’re very very lucky to be in a quite financially secure position. I do worry I might lose my job with the unstable position, but even then we’d survive. We are very lucky. So many are not.
Kalmia Mum
The initial stage of lockdown provoked many strong feelings for our participants –incredulity, anxiety, fear, frustration and anger, amongst others. These are, of course, to be expected as the shock of a global pandemic sets in.
As researchers, however, something we did not anticipate, was the recurring refrain of feeling both grateful and ‘lucky’, expressed by many participants in their diaries. Like Kalmia Mum quoted above, we found that the pandemic provoked reflections both on what was lost (freedoms to move about, to see other family and friends, for example), but also reflections on relative security, intimacy and affluence. Kalmia Mum, for example, reflects that she may lose her job, but supposes they would still ‘survive’. What is interesting here is that arguably even low expectations around ‘survival’ are deemed ‘very very lucky’, which clearly relates to her assessment of her family’s relative situation to others.
Of course not all participants have been so ‘lucky’ in lockdown, with many having a more precarious financial situation than Kalmia Mum. Children with special needs, and their parents for example, have struggled to keep it together. One of the children in these families even attempted to take their own life. What has been of note to us, however, is that the more privileged participants are acutely aware of the inequality of experience and spend considerable time, particularly in the early days of lockdown, reflecting on their ‘luck’ whether in having a large house or garden, or how lucky they were to have convivial relationships with their family members.
This discourse of ‘luck’ is sociologically interesting, because it is seemingly at odds with an overarching UK discourse of meritocracy that success is ‘earned’. In this discourse (and the related policy of austerity, familiar to the UK for a number of years) being poor is blamed on poor behaviour; a situation that one creates for oneself. As a corollary, being well-off, is the result of hard work and/or wise investment.
Dingwall et al (2003) observed that health crises such as pandemics bring to the fore the taken for granted aspects of life, with social inequalities and marginalisation often coming into sharp relief. With the onset of lockdown, many people were forced to spend large amounts of time (if not all of their time time) at home, knowing that others were doing the same. Coupled with the universal and shocking threat of COVID, this led our participants to reflect on their homes and lives in ways they had rarely done before. In these moments, participants felt lucky to have a garden, or a spare bedroom, or to know that their loved ones were not ill (where this was the case). These were not talked about as individual achievements that were ‘earned’, but rather as matters of happenstance.
Research in the sociology of health shows that ‘luck’ may be drawn on as a narrative to express gratitude for good fortune without expressing entitlement; thereby mitigating any sense of moral blame for those who are ‘unlucky’ (Gurtin-Broadbent 2009). It is hopeful to us that this was an initial reflexive response to the pandemic for many of our families. It suggests that solidarity across socio-economic groups may be one result of the pandemic. These findings were also captured in a recent national poll conducted by the Unite Trade Union, which found that the majority of respondents rejected the idea of austerity and would like to see more investment in public services, particularly in terms of higher wages for ‘key workers’ (see: https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/may/uk-wide-survey-britons-want-major-economic-reform-now-and-after-the-covid-19-crisis/). But we cannot be complacent. Research on previous pandemics has shown that blame can be quick to arise as individuals (and sometimes governments) seek to identify a focus of responsibility (Lupton forthcoming). Certainly couching COVID-19 as ‘the Chinese virus’ would appear to fit in with this response.
At present, the government strategy in the UK remains unclear as to how things will unfold in coming years in terms of economic policy in general and austerity in particular. Whatever the outcome, no doubt ‘luck’ will continue to play a large role in how particular individuals, families and communities fare.
References
Dingwall R, Hoffman LM and Staniland K (2013) Introduction: why a sociology of
pandemics? Sociology of Health & Illness 35(2): 167-173.
Gürtin-Broadbent, Z. (2009) "Anything to become a mother": Migrant Turkish Women's Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in London.' In Culley, L, Hudson, N & van Rooij, F. (eds) Marginalised Reproduction: Ethnicity Infertility and Reproductive Technologies. Earthscan
Lupton D (forthcoming) Contextualising COVID-19: Sociocultural Perspectives on Contagion In Lupton, D. and Willis, K. (eds) The Coronavirus Crisis: Social Perspectives. London: Routledge