There’s little doubt that the coronavirus will change the world forever, although right now, we can only speculate as to how.
While media attention thus far has largely focused on the reactions of business and government, I’ve been pondering lately what the impact of the coronavirus will be on the “third sector” — civil society organizations such as charities, churches, and nonprofit organizations that operate in the space between public and private. With social distancing shifting long-held mental models about how humans should relate to each other, our emergence out of isolation could either strangle or rejuvenate civil society.
As the executive director of a nonprofit organization myself, I suspect that the most obvious short-term effect the coronavirus could have on the nonprofit sector is a drop in charitable giving. During any time of economic downturn, some people, understandably, have to close their wallets to make ends meet. During the Great Recession of 2008, for example, charitable giving dropped 7% as compared with the previous year.
Of course, recessions come and go. Less than a decade after the end of the Great Recession, charitable giving hit an all-time high of $425 billion in 2017.
While the past two weeks have certainly seen stock market slumps and layoffs that have many recalling 2008, the impact of the coronavirus will likely prove more severe than the Great Recession. As bad as things were, there were no lockdowns, border closures, and major supply shortages 12 years ago.
One possible long-term impact many are predicting is that social norms will permanently shift in terms of touching and meeting people in-person. Georgetown University Linguistics professor Deborah Tannen observes how “the personal becomes dangerous”:
I worry that this “othering” of people we don’t know could have lasting effects on civil society. Instead of seeing our fellow humans as creatures with needs who long for companionship and empathy, the current isolation is reinforcing a culture of distance. Why should I, say, go to church or volunteer at the soup kitchen if the very act of being present with strangers could risk infection?
Decades ago, society might have bounced back to normal after weeks of thumb twiddling at home. But with all the household conveniences of the 21st century at our disposal, such as high-speed internet, teleconferencing, gaming, streaming services, and more, there simply won’t be the same rush to leave home.
Indeed, a Gallup poll taken earlier this month reports 71% of respondents will “see what happens with the coronavirus before resuming” even after government restrictions are lifted, while another 10% will “limit… contact with other people and daily activities indefinitely.”
Also, unlike decades ago, we have a media industry reinforcing the culture of distance through endless channels, online and off. Could such an everlasting fear of the commons undercut philanthropy at its core? The word literally means “love of humankind” from its Greek roots. Humans are social creatures, Aristotle famously observed, and that will never change. But will our love of humanity turn more inward to those familiar to us than outward to strangers in need after the coronavirus recedes?
In some sense, however, this fear about the decline of social capital in American life predates the coronavirus.
Harvard professor Robert Putnam meticulously slogged through mountains of data in his 2000 book Bowling Alone tracking the decline of social ties and participation in civic organizations over decades. The fact of the matter is that most people don’t know their neighbors anymore, and it’s not the coronavirus’s fault.
So, instead of accelerating the culture of distancing from our fellow humans, perhaps the coronavirus’s conclusion will have the opposite effect — renewing a sense of community and thereby civil society. In the mid-20th century, a team of social scientists led by Charles Fritz interviewed more than 9,000 disaster survivors. To their surprise, the researchers found that many survivors reflected on the catastrophe they lived through fondly, as it invigorated a sense of individual purpose and created a “community of sufferers” that cut through all class distinctions.
Society comes together in times of crisis in ways that are unimaginable beforehand, and, hopefully, the coronavirus will be no exception.
We’re already seeing incredible acts of generosity, from billionaires to small businessmen to your next-door neighbors. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has pledged $1 billion, approximately one-third of his net worth, to fighting the virus. A Brooklyn landlord canceled April rent for all 18 residential buildings he owns in the borough, helping hundreds of tenets. In Arlington, a viral Facebook post helped a Catholic church keep its pantry open with food donations after the need for its services more than tripled.
Perhaps the virus will cultivate more of a sense of empathy for others in all of us — even if that empathy will be expressed in different ways than the past through social distancing. For the sake of civil society, let’s certainly hope so.
Casey Given (@CaseyJGiven) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the executive director of Young Voices.
