Convergence Lab: Social Cohesion in a Time of Crisis

Three people sit outside at separate tables, wearing masks and working on homework or using their phones.

Sometimes crises bring out the strength of a community. People pitch in to help each other after a flood or earthquake. While dealing with the COVID-19 crisis similarly demands strong social cohesion, necessary public health measures like social distancing and the disruption of business and public spaces seem to undermine our underlying sense of community. Moreover, the pandemic lays bare pre-existing inequalities, the weakness of social institutions and other challenges to social cohesion.

How do we beat the crisis, and how can we rebuild to have stronger societies in the future?

Join ASU's Convergence Lab for a binational discussion featuring Alexandra Zapata — researcher, activist and former deputy director general of el Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, and Craig Calhoun — ASU's university professor of social sciences and former director and president of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The conversation will be held in English.

Mia Armstrong
Convergence Lab, Office of University Affairs
mia.armstrong@asu.edu
https://mexico.asu.edu/
-
Online