What’s the point of social science in a pandemic?

Contributor(s): Professor Laura Bear, Nikita Simpson, Professor Joan Roses, Dr Adam Oliver, Dr Clare Wenham, Professor Patrick Wallis | In this month’s episode of the LSE IQ podcast we ask, ‘What’s the point of social science in a pandemic?’.

On the 23rd March 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the country’s first national lockdown. In the months since, there has been a seismic shift in all our lives. As we embark on 2021 and, hopefully, the latter stages of the pandemic, now is an apt moment to reflect on how we’ve got to where we are. While the scientific community has taken centre stage in the fight to overcome the virus, how have social scientists helped us navigate – and evaluate –the UK’s response?

In this episode we talk to anthropologists Professor Laura Bear and Nikita Simpson, Economic historians Professor Patrick Wallis and Professor Joan Roses, Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy Dr Clare Wenham and behavioural economist Dr Adam Oliver.

Research

’A good death’ during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: a report on key findings and recommendations, by the COVID and Care Research Group

 A Right to Care: The Social Foundations of Recovery from COVID-19, by the COVID and Care Research Group

 The Redistributive Effects of Pandemics: Evidence of the Spanish Flu. By Sergi Basco, Jordi Domenech, and Johanne Rohses

 Separating behavioural science from the herd by Adam Oliver

Reciprocity and the art of behavioural public policy by Adam Oliver

What is the future of UK leadership in global health security post Covid-19? By Clare Wenham

A Dreadful Heritage: Interpreting Epidemic Disease at Eyam, 1666-2000, by Patrick Wallis

Eyam revisited: lessons from a plague village, by Patrick Wallis

Contributors

Professor Laura Bear

Nikita Simpson

Professor Joan Roses

Dr Adam Oliver

Dr Clare Wenham

Professor Patrick Wallis