Connecting Sociology and YOU!

The Pandemic and YOU

How has your life been impacted by the changes in material and nonmaterial culture since the start of the pandemic? How do changes in nonmaterial culture impact material culture? Have you been in an online class or meeting since the pandemic started? How was your online experience different from in-person experiences?

Material and Nonmaterial Culture

Masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and wipes are all forms of material culture that experts now urge us to make part of our everyday lives. Not surprisingly, nonmaterial culture, those things humans create that you cannot physically touch, has also been impacted by COVID-19. Whether it be in the grocery store or at the restaurant, rules about social distance are a form of nonmaterial culture. Interestingly, Zoom meetings qualify as both material and nonmaterial culture. They require touchable technology like a computer or mobile phone (material culture) and consist of artifacts that can be observed but not touched (nonmaterial culture), as seen in the different experiences between attending a virtual court hearing or a yoga session. These forms of material and nonmaterial culture highlight the fact that culture is dynamic and will change and adapt to the world around it.