Recovering Civility during COVID-19

This chapter provides an overview of the human, economic, social, and political costs of COVID-19. The pandemic has had immediate negative health effects and is likely to also cause long-term health problems. In addition to economic repercussions across numerous sectors, COVID-19 has also had significant social and political effects. The chapter focuses on the strains that the pandemic has imposed on relationships between family members, friends, and romantic partners. It shows how COVID-19 has changed social practices in various everyday environments (e.g. restaurants, cafes, public transport), as the public has been forced to reimagine spaces and how to interact within them in ways that comply with new social distancing norms. The chapter also illustrates many of the political implications of COVID-19, including the way it has exacerbated ongoing political conflicts within and between states, compounded pre-existing international problems related to the movement of people, and affected levels of trust and political participation.

This chapter introduces the concept of civility and identifies its two main dimensions. The first, politeness, is related to norms of etiquette and good manners. Politeness involves both structural and agential components, and presents two important functional aspects: it can be used to signal respect and consideration for others, and it can help facilitate social cooperation. The second dimension of civility, public-mindedness, involves treating others as free and equal members of society. Civility as public-mindedness presents two sub-dimensions. The first, moral civility, demands that we respect other people’s fundamental rights, liberties, and equal civic standing, for example by avoiding racist and discriminatory speech and behaviour. The second, justificatory civility, requires that we refrain from justifying political rules based on self-interested or sectarian reasons.

This chapter examines new challenges to the politeness dimension of civility presented by COVID-19. First, the pandemic has made it more difficult for people to identify norms of politeness and behave appropriately in circumstances that were previously less contested and problematic. Furthermore, signalling respect and consideration towards others via polite speech or behaviour is more likely to go awry during COVID-19. Additionally, the lack of clarity surrounding norms of politeness may prevent polite acts from helping to mitigate conflict and facilitate cooperative social exchange. Finally, citizens and politicians can exploit disruptions around politeness norms to engage in behaviour that under normal circumstances would be considered impolite. The chapter also identifies potential solutions that governments, businesses, and citizens can adopt to respond to these challenges.

This chapter examines the implications of COVID-19 for civility as public-mindedness. First, the pandemic has exacerbated various types of morally uncivil behaviour, such as discrimination and hate. Moreover, COVID-19 has created opportunities for some political actors to put forward sectarian agendas, grounded in partial interests and controversial beliefs, that breach the demands of justificatory civility. Furthermore, some policies to contain the pandemic have resulted in unreasonable ‘strains of commitment’ for members of marginalized sectors of the population, such as racial minorities, women, the LGBTIQ+ community, and older people; governments should acknowledge this aspect when publicly justifying these policies. Finally, justificatory civility during the pandemic has been undermined by scientific uncertainty around particular aspects of the virus itself; limited research on its social and cultural dimensions; and the politicization of science for personal or partisan advantage. The chapter advances numerous suggestions to counteract these challenges to moral and justificatory civility.