EVERYDAY PRACTICES OF URBAN DWELLERS IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Based on the results of Russian and foreign sociological research, the article analyses the changes that occurred in the everyday practices of city residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data of individual interviews conducted by the author with representatives of post-Soviet youth about their everyday practices and adaptation strategies in the conditions of lockdowns are presented. It is shown that for many urban dwellers in Russia and abroad the stay in the regime of self-isolation became a time of not only limitations, but also new opportunities. For some people it became a time of mastering useful everyday online practices (creative, educational, leisure, labor, communicative, etc.), which they would like to keep in their lives even after the pandemic. Some urban dwellers (especially young people) were involved in various forms of social activism and volunteering. It is noted that the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its many negative consequences, had an unusual positive emergent effect - in general, it contributed to the revitalization of some aspects of social life and gave impetus to the development of everyday social practices; this effect was especially noticeable in large cities where quarantine regimes were the most stringent. The author believes that the effective experience of young people adapting to the new coronavirus everyday life and similar unexpected crisis phenomena may be useful for the representatives of older generations.