The Postmodern Pandemic: Time, Space, Money, and the Computer

Keywords: postmodernity, pandemic, control, space, harvey
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 4/9/2021 11:10 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/9/2021 12:25 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 7

Abstract

Critical theories of postmodernity from David Harvey, Foucault, and others is applied expanded to social responses in the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. In the last 10-20 years, the growth of the digital landscape has created a second, parallel space to the physical realm. Digital space can be controlled in some similar ways to physical space and at times controls physical space itself. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, control of these two landscapes created a new class divide between those with the ability to retreat into digital space and those who had to face risks in the physical one. The development and nuance of both physical and digital control are outlined, examined, and applied to the months of March-May 2020.