Resources

The Social Sciences Response to COVID-19

Understanding the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for crafting effective and inclusive recovery policies. Prior to the pandemic, growing gaps in well-being were already undermining environmental sustainability, the social fabric, and progress worldwide. Fragile and unequal systems proved to be a pre-existing aggravating condition that fuelled the pandemic on a global scale.

COVID-19 widened the gap between developed countries—which already had the financial means to respond to the crisis and had easy access to the vaccine—and the rest of humanity, resulting in devastating effects in the Global South, with more than 130 million people crossing the poverty line.

Addressed to policymakers and scholars, this publication presents a comprehensive state of knowledge of the social science perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic, covering a wide range of topics from its impact on mental health, education, climate change, economy, governance, migration, demography, digitalization, and more.

The authors analyse the challenges faced by society during the pandemic and present actionable proposals for policymakers and practitioners. 

This publication is a reminder of the importance of Social Sciences and Humanities in addressing global challenges and provides a roadmap for future research and policy action to build more resilient societies.