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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

# data[].attributes.headline
 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

# data[].attributes.headline
 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

# data[].attributes.headline
 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

# data[].attributes.headline
 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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 What questions do disciplines in your CAP ask about COVID? What are links to articles, websites, etc., that provide us with perspective and understanding?

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What are famous works of literature that explore pandemics and disease? 

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What are famous works of literature that explore pandemics and disease? 

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Just as the film Contagion has found a second life with news of the coronavirus outbreak, so too are novels about epidemics popping up on reading lists around the country. With stakes so high, it's easy to see why novelists find outbreaks of disease so compelling. Here are 20 great fictional takes, ranging from the historical to the futuristic.

Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.

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The Best Pandemic Books to Read During Coronavirus

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Just as the film Contagion has found a second life with news of the coronavirus outbreak, so too are novels about epidemics popping up on reading lists around the country. Vulture compiled a list of pandemic fiction for these dark times.

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The American Anthropological Association has a list of resources here - https://www.americananthro.org/covid-19

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The American Anthropological Association has a list of resources here - https://www.americananthro.org/covid-19

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, anthropological insights are valuable research and teaching resources for health promotion, disease prevention, and the strengthening of health systems. AAA is collecting some of these resources here to support open and fact-based conversations about the pandemic and community responses. We will continue to closely monitor local, national, and international developments while collaborating with the local public health authorities. Toward that end, this page will be updated regularly. If you have information you would like to share, please email Jeff Martin at jmartin@americananthro.org

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, anthropological insights are valuable research and teaching resources for health promotion, disease prevention, and the strengthening of health systems. AAA is collecting some of these resources here to support open and fact-based conversations about the pandemic and community responses.

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How do logical fallacies play into conspiracy theories? 

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How do logical fallacies play into conspiracy theories? 

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The number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to rise at an alarming rate, reminding us that this crisis is far from over. In response, the global scientific community has thrown itself at the problem and research is unfolding at an unprecedented rate.

The new virus was identified, along with its natural origins, and tests for it were rapidly developed. Labs across the world are racing to develop a vaccine, which is estimated to be still around 12 to 18 months away.

At the same time, the pandemic has been accompanied by an infodemic of nonsense, disinformation, half-truths and conspiracy theories that have spread virally through social networks. This damages society in a variety of ways. For example, the myth that COVID-19 is less dangerous than the seasonal flu was deployed by US president Donald Trump as justification for delaying mitigation policies.

The recent downgrading of COVID-19 death projections, which reveal the success of social-distancing policies, has been falsely used to justify premature relaxing of social distancing measures. This is the logical equivalent of throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because it's kept you dry until then.

The new conspiracy theory that blames COVID-19 on the 5G broadband system is one of the most bizarre pieces of misinformation. There are several strains of this theory, ranging from the claims that 5G alters people's immune systems to the idea that 5G changes people's DNA, making them more susceptible to infection. Then there's the idea that secret messages about 5G and coronavirus were hidden in the design of the new £20 note in the UK. In reality, 5G relates to viruses and bank notes as much as the tooth fairy relates to zoology - not at all.

The 5G conspiracy theory originated in early March when an American physician, Thomas Cowan, proposed it in a YouTube video (which has since been taken down by YouTube according to their new policy). Some people have taken this conspiracy theory so seriously that it led to people setting 5G towers in the UK on fire and threatening broadband engineers.

The conspiracy theory has begun to penetrate mainstream society. Among other celebrities, UK TV personality Eamonn Holmes and US actor Woody Harrelson have given fuel to the idea.

Inoculating against conspiracy theories

As we document in our recent Conspiracy Theory Handbook, there is a great deal of scientific research into why people might be susceptible to conspiracy theories. When people suffer loss of control or feel threatened, it makes them more vulnerable to believing conspiracies. Unfortunately, this means that pandemics have always been breeding grounds for conspiracy theories, from antisemitic hysteria during the Black Death to today's 5G craze.

An effective strategy for preventing conspiracy theories from spreading through social networks is, appropriately enough, inoculation. As we document in the Conspiracy Theory Handbook, if we inoculate the public by pre-emptively warning them of misleading misinformation, they develop resilience and are less likely to be negatively influenced. Inoculating messages can take several forms. As well as giving people the right facts, inoculation can also be logic-based and source-based.

Questioning the sources

The source-based approach focuses on analysing the people who push the conspiracy theory and the cultural infrastructure from which they emerged.

For example, the 5G theory began with Thomas Cowan, a physician whose medical licence is on a five-year probation. He is currently prohibited from providing cancer treatment to patients and supervising physician assistants and advanced practice nurses. So we can question his credentials.

His 5G video was from a talk he presented at a pseudo-scientific conference featuring a who's who of science deniers. One of the headliners was Andrew Wakefield, a debarred former physician and seminal figure in the anti-vaccination movement who promotes highly damaging misinformation about vaccination based on data that he is known to have falsified.

Another attendee of this meeting was the president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, an organisation famous for bestowing awards onto fossil-fuel funded climate deniers and for giving a platform to a speaker who denied the link between HIV and AIDS, claiming that the link was invented by government scientists who wanted to cover up other health risks of "the lifestyle of homosexual men."

For the public to be protected against the 5G conspiracy theory, it is important to understand its emergence from the same infrastructure that also supports AIDS denial, anti-vaccination conspiracies and climate denial.

It is therefore unsurprising that the rhetorical techniques that are deployed against the seriousness of climate change are similar to those used to mismanage the COVID-19 crisis.

Questioning the logic

Another way to neutralise conspiracy theories is through logic-based inoculation. This involves explaining the rhetorical techniques and tell-tale traits to be found in misinformation, so that people can flag it before it has a chance to mislead them. In the Conspiracy Theory Handbook, we document seven traits of conspiratorial thinking. Spotting these can help people identify a baseless theory.

One trait that is particularly salient in the 5G conspiracy theory is re-interpreting randomness. With this thought pattern, random events are re-interpreted as being causally connected and woven into a broader, interconnected pattern.

For example, the introduction of 5G in 2019 coincided with the origin of COVID-19 and hence is interpreted to be causally related. But by that logic, other factors that were introduced in 2019 - say, the global phenomenon of Baby Yoda - could also be interpreted as a possible cause of COVID-19. Correlation does not equal causation. The 5G conspiracy theory is also immune to evidence, despite having been debunked extensively. To illustrate, some of the countries worst affected by the pandemic (such as Iran) do not have any 5G technology.

Of course, 5G has nothing to do with a virus. In the US, T-Mobile's low-band 5G data is transmitted using old UHF TV channels. UHF TV did not cause coronavirus and neither does 5G.

The crucial role of social media platforms

Social media platforms contribute to the problem of misinformation by providing the means for it to quickly and freely disseminate to the general public. Given that 330,000 lives were lost in relation to AIDS in South Africa during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, when denying the disease's link to HIV was official state policy. Given that people in the UK are now vandalizing potentially life-saving communication infrastructure, social media companies should not aid and abet the life-threatening disinformation that is spewed by a nexus of science deniers and conspiracy theorists.

To their credit, these firms are making an effort to be part of the solution to the problem of misinformation. For example, YouTube has announced that it will take down any video that espouses the 5G conspiracy theory. This is a move in the right direction.

There is considerable room for improvement, however. A recent test by the non-profit Disinfo.eu laboratory found much conspiratorial content on various social media platforms, and we were able to find hundreds of YouTube videos promulgating the 5G nonsense with a few keystrokes.

Much remains to be done.
Stephan Lewandowsky is the chair of cognitive psychology at the University of Bristol. John Cook is a research assistant professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

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Coronavirus conspiracy theories are dangerous - here's how to stop them spreading - Alliance for Science

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The number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to rise at an alarming rate, reminding us that this crisis is far from over. In response, the global scientific community has thrown itself at the problem and research is unfolding at an unprecedented rate.

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The American Sociological Association's COVID-19 resource page, includes link to research projects, past and present: 

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The American Sociological Association's COVID-19 resource page, includes link to research projects, past and present: 

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Every day we face new challenges related to COVID-19. ASA wants to help sociologists navigate those challenges. We are offering several resources to help sociologists in their work during this period.

Letter to Congressional Leadership on Relief Funding for Higher Education: On June 1, ASA sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer asking for the provision of substantial additional funding for higher education in future COVID-related relief bills. The letter recognizes that, while the pandemic has affected all of us, its consequences are not uniform, with the most marginalized institutions and individuals hit hardest. We urge that resources allocated to higher education be distributed to the students and institutions who need them most. The letter was authored by ASA and co-signed by almost 40 other scholarly associations. Read the letter.

Statement on Student Educational Progress during COVID-19: On April 22, ASA released a formal statement, endorsed by over 30 other scholarly associations across disciplines, calling on institutions of higher education to consider appropriate temporary accommodations for students whose degree progress has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement contains recommendations that institutions modify timelines for student progress and completion, such as extending funding eligibility and time-to-degree requirements, and adjust expectations for learning and scholarship by, for example, offering pass-fail grading options and amending graduation requirements. "Tangible policy changes like these are important for students' educational progress and well-being, and we encourage departments and institutions to offer these and other protective measures that are appropriate for their students and context." Read the statement.

Statement on Faculty Review and Reappointment Processes during COVID-19: On March 23, ASA released a formal statement, endorsed by over 50 other scholarly associations across disciplines, calling on institutions of higher education to consider appropriate temporary adjustments to their review and reappointment processes for tenure-track and contingent faculty during the COVID-19 crisis. The statement contains recommendations to limit the use of student evaluations of teaching during the current term and to adjust expectations for faculty scholarship through this period. Further, administrators are encouraged to communicate such changes to faculty expeditiously. "We ask that institutions support the extraordinary efforts of faculty by allowing them to focus on immediate needs without worrying that this will compromise how they are reviewed for tenure, promotion, and reappointment." Read the statement.

ASA WEBINARS

ASA Forum for Directors of Graduate Studies, recorded May 27, 2020
ASA invites sociology graduate program directors to a virtual forum to discuss how to navigate disruptions in graduate education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The forum is an opportunity to share ideas with your peers and provide support to each other. The conversation will be led by three experienced graduate directors at doctoral and master's degree-granting departments across the country: ASA President Christine Williams, University of Texas at Austin; Kirk A. Johnson, University of Mississippi; and Mary Nell Trautner, SUNY Buffalo. Watch the recording.

ASA Forum for Sociology Department Chairs, recorded May 6, 2020
Department chairs are on the front lines of higher education's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ASA invites sociology department chairs to a virtual forum to discuss how to navigate the challenges of leading a department during this crisis. The forum is an opportunity to share resources, ideas, and support with your peers. It will be led by Jacqueline Johnson, Department Chair at Adelphi University; Jennifer Randles, Department Chair at California State University, Fresno; and Eric Wright, Department Chair at Georgia State University. Watch the recording.

Best Practices and Strategies for Successful Online Teaching, recorded April 22, 2020
Because of COVID-19, faculty have quickly moved their courses online, and their immediate focus is getting through the crisis. As institutions look beyond the current semester, a growing number are moving summer courses online and some are planning for this possibility for fall. In this webinar, Melinda Messineo will cover best practices for online teaching and learning, as well as sociology-specific recommendations to help faculty prepare for and improve their online teaching. Dr. Messineo is a professor of sociology at Ball State University. She was a member of ASA's Task Force on Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major, where she was part of the subcommittee on online learning. The recommendations from the task force can be found in The Sociology Major in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education: Curriculum, Careers and Online Learning. Watch the recording.

Sociology Student Town Hall: Navigating Covid-19, recorded April 16, 2020
The Student Forum Advisory Board invites sociology graduate and undergraduate students to a town hall to discuss how to navigate the challenges of being a student during this difficult time. Whether you are taking courses or in the final stages of writing your dissertation, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted students in unique ways. We invite students at all stages to join us for a conversation to share resources, discuss coping strategies, and commiserate. Watch the recording and access shared resources.

Transitioning to Online Teaching in the Face of COVID-19, recorded March 19, 2020
Colleges and universities across the country are transitioning to distance learning in response to COVID-19. Many instructors have been asked to move their face-to-face courses online in a short amount of time, often with little guidance for this process. In response, ASA hosted a webinar to help instructors manage the transition and facilitate students' continued learning in the online environment. Panelists include Melinda Messineo, professor of sociology at Ball State University and member of the Online Learning Subcommittee of the ASA Taskforce on Liberal Learning; Kimberly Alecia Singletary, Instructional Designer and Educational Consultant; and Matt Rafalow, Social Scientist at Google and author of forthcoming book on EdTech and inequality. Watch the recording and find additional resources to assist faculty in creating quality and creative online courses and assignments.

College Students and Mental Health: Strategies for Supporting Students, recorded January 22, 2019
In this ASA Department Affiliates webinar, sociologists Shirley Leyro (Associate Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College and Mental Health First Aid Trainer) and Yvonne Vissing (Professor at Salem State University and National Alliance on Mental Health Trainer) share strategies for responding to students and explore proactive ways that faculty members, departments, and institutions can support student mental health. Watch the recording.

TEACHING AND ADVISING

TRAILS
In reponse to COVID-19, ASA has temporarily made TRAILS available to everyone. TRAILS is an online peer-reviewed library of high quality teaching resources. Resource types include syllabi, class activities, assignments, lectures, and more. You may log in to TRAILS using your ASA username and password, regardless of your membership status. If you do not have an ASA username and password, you can create one here.
Online Sociological Content for Your Courses Other Resources to Support Your Teaching and Advising
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS

RESEARCH IN ASA JOURNALS

ASA Journal Articles Relevant to COVID-19. ASA has worked with our journal editors to identify existing articles in ASA journals that could be useful to those trying to develop responses to, and cope with, the enormous disruptions this pandemic has produced. Click here to access the articles that are freely available to all users.

Call for Papers. Journal of Health and Social Behavior is seeking manuscripts on "The COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk, Disparities, and Health" to be published in a regular issue. JHSB is looking for theoretical and empirical manuscripts that examine the sociological impacts of COVID-19. These papers can address any of, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Racial/ethnic disparities in testing, treatment, and/or health outcomes

Gender differences in mortality and morbidity

Geo-spatial trends in US morbidity and mortality

Social variation in pandemic response by city/state/country

Impact on medical care professionals and first-responders (e.g., fatigue, burnout, risk of infection, overwork)

Impact on health care systems and networks (e.g., overburdening, lack of supplies/equipment, lack of trained professionals)

Social disparities in the impact on "essential" workers

The impact of the pandemic on mental health (e.g., due to isolation, proximity to death, economic uncertainty)

Prison and detention center health, health outcomes, and risk of infection

Impact on other medical care (e.g., individuals who need care for-or are hospitalized for-conditions/reasons other than COVID-19)

Disparities in responses to public health recommendations during this pandemic

COVID-19 PROJECTS INITIATED BY SOCIOLOGISTS

Sociologists are responding in creative ways to learn more about the pandemic and its consequences. They are collecting data, creating interdisciplinary research collaborations, compiling resources, and supporting their communities. See the projects and initiatives that sociologists are leading and add your own.

SOCIOLOGISTS IN THE NEWS

Journalists are turning to sociologists on a wide variety of topics. Click here to see the articles that sociologists are quoted in or have authored on the topic of COVID-19 and add yourself to the list.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AND RESOURCES
You can help support ASA's efforts on behalf of sociologists by becoming a member or by making a donation here.

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Every day we face new challenges related to COVID-19. ASA wants to help sociologists navigate those challenges.

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A Japanese legend dating back to the 1800s has been resurfacing across social media recently because of its tie to staving off epidemics. A three-legged mermaid or merman with long hair and beak, the Amabie falls within the tradition of the yōkai-which is a supernatural monster or spirit in Japanese culture- and is said to have appeared from the waters near Kumamoto. The mythical tale states that the scale-covered creature emerged from the sea to tell prophecies about the upcoming harvests and potential destruction from disease. In the case of an epidemic, the legend states that people are supposed to draw the Amabie and share it with everyone who is ill. In response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Twitter and Instagram are full of illustrations, pencil drawings, and wool sculptures of the mysterious figure. (via Spoon & Tamago)

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Artists Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak by Flooding Social Media with a Japanese Yokai Said to Ward Off Epidemics

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A Japanese legend dating back to the 1800s has been resurfacing across social media recently because of its tie to staving off epidemics. A three-legged mermaid or merman with long hair and beak, the Amabie falls within the tradition of the yōkai-which is a supernatural monster or spirit in Japanese

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Explaining the Emergence of Coronavirus Rituals

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Coronavirus rituals - An anthropologist illuminates how both old and new rituals can provide a sense of comfort during times of uncertainty.