ELCS0091: Crisis 2020/21 UG Class Blog

By not thinking about the words we use, we end up falling into many traps that obscure our vision, prevent us from understanding, and sometimes enslave us.

We have seen the vision of Hannah Ardent and Benjamin on crises, I would like to focus on the famous French philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin vision’s of it. In his writing ‘Pour une crisologie’  (Morin, 1976), he puts aside two definitions of the word crises at different moments in history that caught my attention: the definition of krisis in Ancient Greece which means decision « the decisive moment in the evolution of an uncertain process, which allows the diagnosis to be made », and today’s definition of a crisis that means indecision,  « the moment when, at the same time as a disturbance, uncertainty arises ». The definition that that one gives to a moment that bears witness to an epoch. The definition we give to a word is the testimony of an epoch.

Based on Edgar Morin’s view of a crisis, we can acknowledge 4 components that relate to a crisis in society.

-First of all, he talks about The idea of disruption: The usual rules that ensured stability at the time no longer work and do not offer any solution to the problems of the crisis, thus creating unheard of situations, it is at this point that fear starts to set in.

-In a second phase, Morin evokes an increase in disorder and uncertainty. When regulation systems work, they create determinisms that make it possible to easily predict the consequences of actions or events. However, when this regulatory system no longer functions totally (but only partially or not at all), it becomes difficult to predict. And it is through this door that uncertainty enters. The crisis thus leads to a “progression of uncertainties” and a “regression of determinisms”.

-Thirdly, the author talks about a process of blocking-unblocking. Indeed, the usual regulatory systems are blocked or disrupted. Becoming unable to offer solutions, hitherto unexploited resources are unblocked and new potentials are fully revealed.

-Finally, the last component of a crisis is the triggering of research activities: as rules and ideas are destroyed, members of society engage in a movement of creativity in action, looking for solutions to “get out of the crisis”.

Finally, the last aspect of its definition of a crisis that I would like to mention is its relationship to the future. According to Edgar Morin, a crisis is going to be decisive for the future and make things change. He speaks in particular of asking oneself questions in order to be able to learn lessons once the uncertainty has passed. He published a book in 2020 on the coronavirus crisis entitled ‘changer de voix’’Changing Paths’, in which he proposes a fairer world in the future.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.persee.fr/doc/comm_0588-8018_1976_num_25_1_1388

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/30141882.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A87c13e30e338c00b0bd94455ac7db1ba.

In the words of the seemingly unkillable Meredith Grey of the long-running hit medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ “There is no other day. Every day is like this. Every day there’s a crisis. There’s no time. (1)” Arguably, Dr Grey’s life is more chaotic than your average real-life human (in this episode, she is getting married to her boss while Friend #1 battles metastatic cancer and Friend #2 joins the military and is subsequently hit by a bus), but hey, life imitates art.

My point is, the natural evolution of the term “crisis” into mainstream English, in conjunction with popular media having far greater access to an arsenal of attention-grabbing tools than it did in the 17th century, means that there is plenty of debate over what constitutes a crisis. Koselleck specifically mentions the legal/political, medical, and theological definitions of the word. The legal/political positioning refers to a major decision or event that affects the community, in line with the original Greek “krisis,” while the medical term generally encompasses a turning-point between life or death in an illness. The theological definition furthers the turning-point idea to invoke the Last Judgement for a sprinkling of added drama (2). 

As of 6:10 PM on the 19th of February, 2021, this is what Google shows me when I search the word “crisis” under the News tab. I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure how Google’s tracking policy works, or whether the results are influenced by my search history, but regardless, that’s a solid variety of topics and platforms that the term appears on. 

This begs the question of whether there is a need for such a specific definition of the word. This is not an argument for it to be allowed to lose all meaning, but Dr. Uta Staiger pointed out that language changes and moves over time, and unlike crisis’ medical definition as a clear turning-point with a before and an after, language can shift gradually. It may be slow, but it is not static, and for a term so deeply entrenched in almost every area of society that involves any sort of problem at all, even while we try to define its immediate meaning, it continues to shift before our eyes. Additionally, because it is already so part of common English and no longer used as a technical term, maybe the process of determining its significance at this point in time can only be carried out by examining our present day in hindsight, as a point of historical exploration.

References:

1. Rhimes S. Grey’s Anatomy, Season 5, Episode 24, Timestamp 31:50. Los Angeles: ABC Studios; 2021.
2. Koselleck R, Richter M. Crisis. Journal of the History of Ideas [Internet]. 2006 [cited 19 February 2021];67(2):357-400. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30141882?seq=1

The seventeenth century saw the confluence of wars, regime change, popular revolt, and natural disasters on an unprecedented, global scale

The 17th century was a century of rebellion against monarchical regimes. It was a general crisis in Europe where the people organised revolts to establish a regime of “mixed monarchy”.

James Harrington who, in 1656, diagnosed the general crisis which had produced such violent results in his own country of Oceana. “What”, he asked, “is become of the Princes of Germany? Blown up. Where are the Estates or the power of the people in France ? Blown up. Where is that of the people of Aragon and the rest of the Spanish kingdoms ? Blown up. Where is that of the Austrian princes in Switz? Blown up . . . (Trevor Roper, 1959)

1. social patterns

The social revolts organized in the 17th century were struggles for power, looking at the society’s structure, they have been damaged by the various episodes of the plague that have weakened the poor classes  and affected the countries demographic.

Between the 30 years war that took place at the beginning of the century and the various episodes of the plague, the European population experienced an important demographic decline starting in the firstplague episode in the 14th century that recovered around 1750. 

But also by the wars that have taken place in Europe in the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th that have weakened the monarchies in power. As a result, society became more fragile and this led to numerous revolts in a large part of European countries.

In I640 there was the revolt of Catalonia, which failed, and the revolt of Portugal, which succeeded: in I64I there was nearly a revolt of Andalusia too; in I647 there was the revolt of Naples, the revolt of Masaniello. To contemporary observers it seemed that society itself was in crisis, and that this crisis was general in Europe. (Trevor Roper, 1959)

III. economic patterns

the economic crisis of the 17th century in europe is mainly marked by the decline of the Mediterranean economies and the rise of north atlantic ones. The 16th century marked the beginnings of capitalism and the beginning of an industrial revolution that would leave its mark on the economy.

The consequences of social instability have reinforced the cleavages between social classes, creating a complicated economic climate. The classes then sought to find a better societal equilibrium. « the period was seen by some nations as Golden age, while it was for others an era of decadences or collapse ». (De Vries, 1976)

II. climate patterns

Geoffrey Parker has suggested that environmental factors may have been in part to blame, especially the global cooling trend of this period

At that time, the variations in harvests and the weather conditions, which largely determine them, exert an influence on the standard of living of the masses and on the whole economy, a great influence on the more decisive than nowadays

The climate was affected in several ways: first of all it was “the little ce age”, a period when the coldest temperatures were recorded (between the 15th and the 17th century), which then had a direct phenological impact on the crops, thus having a direct social and meteorological impact.

due to very cold temperatures, glaciers in Europe as well as in France and Norway have increased significantly.

 

bibliography

De Vries, J., 1976. The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600-1750. Cambridge University Press.

Le Roy Ladurie, E., 1960. Climat et récoltes aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. [online] Available at: <https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/ahess_0395-2649_1960_num_15_3_421618.pdf> [Accessed 11 February 2021].

Trevor Roper, H., 1959. The General Crisis of the 17th Century on JSTOR. [online] Jstor.org. Available at: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/650152.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8330cd9db8618191f7b57cb533b2af5b> [Accessed 11 February 2021].

In Defoe’s book, the great plague, he refers to an inequality faced by the less well-off in an epidemic. The cities are the places most infected by the disease because people are in very small spaces, and the disease can move from person to person much faster than in the countryside.

In Defoe’s book, he emphasizes the fact that the more affluent people have the possibility to leave and take refuge in their second home while the epidemic passes. He also shows how the poorest are much more exposed to the disease because their job are much more in contact with others. The main character, Henry Defoe himself has the choice (even if he decides to stay in London). This blog will focus on the inequalities caused by the various plague crises in the post-medieval years.

Depending on the indicators, some studies may prove that the plague has reduced inequalities, but this is due to the significant demographic consequences that the plague has engendered.

Alfani’s study seems to prove the 4 main factors that have led to a significant increase in inequalities: economic growth or urbanization, proletarianization and the creation of a political elite. The study focuses on economic, political and wealth factors(Alfani, 2015). Another study emphasizes the fact that demographic factors are central when explaining the rise of inequalities (Brea-Martínez, G, Pujadas-Mora, 2019).

The first graph, which focuses on Italy, shows that from the first episode of the plague, inequalities began to decrease until 1450, and then, along the numerous episodes of the plague, the inequalities became more and more pronounced. The last episode of the plague took place in 1665 and after this one we can see that the inequalities continue to increase even more rapidly

 

 

 

We can also see for instance in this graph that inequalities have increased enormously between before the first plague crisis and a century after the last one.

Taking England as an example, it had a Gini coefficient of 0.35 in 1300 (the closer the figure is to 0, the better the equality in the country), reaching 0.6 in 1800, a phenomenal gap.

 

 

Another idea evoked in the book and in this article in the guardian, shows the evolutions that the most deadly pandemic, the plague, has brought about. During the pandemic, people hoped for a world with less inequality. A pandemic, as we have also seen since the covid pandemic,19 is a time when society can rethink its system in a profound way, because the flaws are more apparent at that time, it is a time of hope for a better world tomorrow.

Although it took time for changes to occur, scholars have often said that medieval European society would have continued being medieval for longer had it not been for the Black Death. Also that it sowed the seeds that led to the Reformation and the Renaissance

In the last year, the covid has opened many debates on a more equal world, more concrete actions about sustainable development and global warming. We will see whether these ideas will remain hypothetical or whether real action will be taken once the health emergency is over

Alfani, G., 2015. Economic inequality in preindustrial times: Europe and beyond. [online] Aeaweb.org. Available at: <https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=11151> [Accessed 4 February 2021].

Brea-Martínez, G, Pujadas-Mora J,B. 2019 Estimating long-term socioeconomic inequality in southern Europe: The Barcelona area, 1481–1880, European Review of Economic History, Volume 23, Issue 4, November 2019, Pages 397–420, Available at: <https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hey017>

The representations of the plague, a terrifying disease that decimated European populations until the 18th century, also struck people’s minds. This is why images of the plague, with a strong symbolic charge, are numerous in art. The plague appears as a punishment, a divine scourge. It has exacerbated the collective imagination and embodies absolute evil.

How can art be perhaps a testimony of an epoch. Art testifies to an epoch by the way it is telling a story, by the style used, the symbols hidden in the works. It makes it possible to show the reaction of Men to this complete reversal of society, to give a point of view and bear witness to an era.

We can see in an example how the plague testified to an immense fear of the population, thinking they were receiving a divine punishment.

We can focus on a painting that appeared in the 1400s by an anonymous painter. This painting was painted around 1437 according to x. This scene would take place in Siena, Italy, a city that was devastated by disease. This painting ‘the allegory of the plague’, showing a representation of black death.

In this painting, we can see directly the painter’s representation of the plague. It is represented by a faceless demon with black wings on a galloping horse. The horse is depicted in movement, which could be testifying to the speed at which the disease spreads, without limits. Notably, we can see how the demon and its horse have no boundaries, he enters the house and throws its arrows through the walls, emphasizing the strength of the contaminating force of the plague. The passage of the disease between people is symbolised by arrows, which means that the person has been infected by the disease. The painting depicts a scene of chaos where a whole population is infected with the disease, and already half of them have died from it. We understand a violent scene, which testifies the fear of the era that has faced the deadliest pandemic ever known. The divine is also represented by the character spreading the disease, it is like a divine judgement. It is a testimony of the medieval period and permits us to learn how it was like to live during the plague. 

This art tool is a testimony of an epoch and it provides contextual information to understand more deeply what was occurring at the moment, the fear and emotions felt by the populations during this crisis.

 

In the materials provided and discussions in the seminar in week 4, the topic that stood out to me was the possibility of plague or crisis as a tool in the progress of human society.

Mentioned in the “Plague and lethal epidemics in the pre-industrial world”, some scholars argue that the Black Death and other plagues set ‘Western Europe on a path of quicker economic development by contributing to the creation of high mortality ‘and ‘high income’.(1) The so-called ‘Golden Age of the English Labourer’ followed the series of bubonic plague and black death lasted till the early 16th century was a period of time that abrupt rise in real wages occurred(2). The rise in wages could be due to the change in the land labor ratio, where it was estimated that ‘more than 40000 (people) died during the plague’ from passages in “Anacardina espiritual”(3). This depopulation of lower-class citizens reduced the absolute obedience from peasants to their landlords, as in contrast to an abundance of labor prior to the plague, the lack of labor meant workers had more leverage in negotiating their working terms. After the plague, the wealthy put in measures that aim to return the lower class citizens to their working conditions before the plague, which sparked the various peasant revolts such as the peasant revolt in France in 1358CE. (4) While class systems and struggles are still present in society today, the peasant revolts during this period of time contributed to the decline of the feudal system. Therefore creating a paradigm shift in human society.

If there is one thing that the recent pandemic has warned us from the economic and social prospect, it is the risks that are involved in globalisation. Globalization for the past few decades has contributed enormously to the global economy and environment. Globalization includes the exchange of goods, services, national capital flows, immigration, technology across the borders. (5) Industries like the fashion industry benefited from globalisation through employing lower-wage labor in Asian countries, while the Asian countries befitted from the extra employment from western companies. Prior to the Covid Pandemic, the advance of globalisation was impacted by two events. One has been the 2008 financial crisis which leads the world into ‘slowbalisation’. Following the financial crisis, a group of populist leaders was chosen and championed nationalism by creating policies that produced negative impacts on globalisation. (6) The trade war between America and China is one of the most well-known examples in this period of time. Then the pandemic hit in late 2019, where countries and multinational business worldwide was hit by the disruptions in the production and posting process of supplies from Asian countries. This disruption further enhanced the risks of globalisation and an era of ‘de – globalisation’ is to be expected in the Post-Covid era, symbolising a paradigm shift in society.

Although not all crisis will produce distinguish impacts on the human society, it is still worth analysing and considering the possible influence each crisis will create to the society.

1. Alfani, Guido, and Tommy E. Murphy. “Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World.”The Journal of Economic History 77, no. 1 (2017): 314–43. doi:10.1017/S0022050717000092.
2. Munro, John H.(2004): “Before and after the Black Death: money, prices, and wages in fourteenth-century England.” Published in: New Approaches to the History of Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Selected Proceedings of Two International Conferences at The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in Copenhagen, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelser , Vol. 104, (February 2009): pp. 335-364.
3. Juan Serrano de Vargas y Urena “Anacardina spiritual” Libreria anticuaria “ El Guadalhorce” 1962
4. Mark, Joshua J. “Effects of the Black Death on Europe.”Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 16, 2020. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1543/
5.  Antras pol. “ De-Globalisation? Global Value Chains in the Post Covid – 19 Age” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series, No.28115,November 2020, http://www.nber.org/papers/w281156.
6. CNBC “ Is Globalization Over? | What’s Next For The U.S. Economy” online video clip. YouTube 15 sept 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOQP-IQV21w&t=125s

When the pandemic first emerged, I observed the resuscitation of verses of scripture floating around Twitter, particularly depicting the Holy Prophet’s mannerisms during the bubonic plague; records of how he maintained his hygiene and kept his composure amidst the flurry of mayhem resurfaced, offering a model for us to emulate.

Others within religious communities posited that the virus had surfaced to admonish mankind – we were so consumed with our own lives and individual struggles that we had become acquiescent towards the evils that were consuming the world: of the decay of nature, of the humanitarian crises that had become mundane headlines, of the oppression of innocuous people.

I firmly agree with Mcloughlin’s highlighting of the idea that mankind once, and still does, rely on God as a pillar of ‘crisis management’ and propels the spiritually connected to conduct an internal synthesis to deduce the wider meaning of mass-scale events like this pandemic. I find it even more intriguing that the Ancient Greek etymological root of the word ‘crisis’ lends itself to many definitions, including that of ‘measuring oneself’, which offers the notion of introspection. On a micro-level the pandemic has given those of us that had become too absorbed in the urban bustle and constant bombardment of superficial goals and activities time to sit beside ourselves, to contemplate and to assess our characters. In these moments of solitude, we have had time to distance ourselves from the obligations of work (at least initially), detach from technology momentarily and question our purpose on Earth. Some of us have suffered from great loss, coming to grips with the transience of our lives. But have we now come to value our finite time on Earth more? Have we drawn ourselves closer to our ‘true purpose’? Have we finally understood the virtue of patience in a world marked by instant gratification?

This pandemic has been the most existential one yet, further characterised by fifth generation warfare, rapid subliminal messaging, economic chaos, political agendas and civil disunity, and, as Caduff very rightly highlights, the exacerbation of inequality. This pandemic poses its own unique dilemmas but also offers certain privileges that exist by the virtue of time and generation (at least for some of us). Previously, there was no sufficient technology or infrastructure that could prop up a hospital in the span of 10 days. There were no means of circulating anecdotes or sharing news about medical breakthroughs in the span of seconds and there certainly wasn’t faith that that teams of researchers would be able to pull through with a vaccine within a relatively quick timeframe of 12-18months. While this certainly hasn’t been the most devastating epidemic, we can observe more nuanced problems within our particular socio-economic bubble, such as the restlessness of being trapped alone within an apartment, resorting to starting at a screen for solace at the expense of human contact.

Personally, I have experienced waves of anxiety and harmony, transacting simultaneously within me. I have come to appreciate the frailty – both physically and mentally – of humankind in the midst of this pandemonium. But with the promise of great chaos, comes the promise for great opportunity – that has been one of my sources of solace

Further Reading:

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/what-islam-tells-us-about-responding-to-deadly-pandemics-35441#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhen%20you%20hear%20that%20%5Ba,the%20principle%20of%20modern%20quarantine.

 

Globalization was the most striking theme for me within this week’s readings and discussions. Two parts in particular stuck out, the first being the letters from John Paige to William Clarke, British merchants (1). Paige’s letters underscore many of the market stresses created as a result of disrupted trade. Both government regulations and personal fears changed economic patterns within the wine industry, and several of his letters include detailed monetary happenings and predictions to be sent to one of his Clarke. The highly developed network of trade combined with the precision with which such conjecture was made demonstrates early globalization, even in a context where neither party was directly involved in the outbreak of plague in Malaga itself (2). This plays into the calm, matter-of-fact tone of Paige’s letters, though part of it may also simply stem from the status of the letters as business correspondence. Either way, the deaths of other known merchants mentioned in some of the later letters lack emotion in their reporting.

During the Week 4 seminar, somebody suggested that a contributing factor to the tone of the communication could have simply been how commonplace death was during the 17th century. Plague, other diseases, starvation, unsafe working conditions, war, and high infant mortality rates all contributed to shorter human lifespans, and given that there were apparently only three years of European peace during the 17th century, perhaps it is human nature to become used to a continuous stream of misfortunes (3). During the Q+A portion of the seminar, Fred Carnegy suggested that while those living through such an outbreak may not have fully understood the big picture of climate change, they certainly would have seen the general disruption of the era and understood it as such. It is interesting to consider the psychological perspectives of how people adapted to continuous crises.

The second instance of globalization that stood out to me was the account of the eruption of Mount Villarica in Chile, where it was apparently heard in the Philippines and Cambodia (4). I’m not sure how significant it is from a historical perspective, but I just thought it was really interesting how instead of ships and goods and wars being the points of connection between humans living so far apart, it was a natural disaster that was cumulatively experienced. Excluding anyone harmed by the event, of course, it’s kind of beautiful that both the rich and the poor experienced it, rather than only the lucky few traveling before modern globalization, and even if it didn’t really affect their lives in any way, shape, or form past, it was still a moment of mass human connection.

References

1. Paige J. Letters: 1649 | British History Online [Internet]. British-history.ac.uk. 2021 [cited 9 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol21/pp1-8
2. A Quick Guide to the World History of Globalization [Internet]. Sas.upenn.edu. 2021 [cited 9 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/global1.htm
3. Parker G. Global crisis – war, climate change and catastrophe in the seventeenth cent. 1st ed. Yale University Press; 2013. 
4. Parker G. Global crisis – war, climate change and catastrophe in the seventeenth cent. 1st ed. Yale University Press; 2013.