The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 poses enormous challenges to the economy, societies and politics. It is now obvious that the corona crisis will bring far-reaching changes to society. Existing economic, social and political inequalities could be reinforced, new forms of inequality may arise. Researchers at the Cluster make it their mission to investigate these developments in order to better understand them. Here we present to you a number of current research projects and commentary on the topic here at the Cluster.
To improve our understanding of how people in Germany deal with the social and political challenges posed by the Corona-Crisis, the Cluster of Excellence has launched a survey program consisting of several online-surveys. The survey program took the form of several online panels taken during April-June 2020, with over 8,000 participants. A second wave of 7,000 interviews was collected in October-November 2020 and features a panel setting. In May 2021, we conducted a third survey wave with more than 6,000 participants.
The surveys combine the latest research about the highly unusual pandemic-induced situation with a wider range of interdisciplinary questions that are at the core of the Cluster's long-term agenda.
The survey program described above has produced a flood of data and results. It is our special concern to make these results available to the wider public on multiple channels and in diverse formats besides scientific publications. Also, numerous Cluster researchers outside the project group responsible for developing and implementing the survey program have taken up the challenge of investigating the impact of the coronavirus crisis on inequalities. Here we present these activities and news: