A global pandemic, a lockdown affecting five billion people, the subversion of everyday life, and a global economy brought to its knees. From a world of extreme interconnectedness and widespread mobility, we have suddenly transitioned to confinement and distancing. The risk society has turned into the emergency society, in which the insecurity of recent years has meant, for many, unemployment and poverty. Can we overcome these challenges? Swinging from one extreme to the other – from globalization to sovereignty, from freedom to surveillance – is not the answer. The challenge is to transform the tensions that defined the pre-Covid world into tools for change. This book addresses five key issues that shape our society and offer opportunities to attain a more equitable balance. Seizing these opportunities will improve our life together and turn the “end of a world” into a new beginning, which everybody can help achieve.

Chiara Giaccardi teaches Media Sociology and Anthropology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Mauro Magatti teaches Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and writes editorials for the Italian national daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera”.