Human Behaviour In Times Of Crisis. Anthropological And Sociological Insights

One of the constants of our species’ history is the fact that from time to time people find themselves in the situation of being forced to cope with events that put a great amount of pressure on certain aspects of humanity’s existence, or even endanger this very existence. Due to the deeply disturbing nature of these situations, we call them crises, and one of them, generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is right now in full swing. How humanity reacts in these circumstances is of the utmost importance. For this reason, in our paper we tried to argue that people should not give in to the urge to act driven by panic or by inappropriate ideas about the nature of the ongoing phenomenon. One of the most dangerous ideas is that a crisis is first and foremost an opportunity, a welcomed occasion for a possible ‘reset’ of the very society as a whole. We then tried to argue that any reaction to the ongoing crisis must be based on a correct understanding of the phenomenon, both as a whole, but also in its details. For this reason, believing that anthropology and sociology can provide fundamental insights, appropriate perspectives for investigation and useful factual information, we have provided in the article some insights from the point of view of these disciplines to help shape this understanding of the ongoing crisis.