Re-Imagining Social Futures: Lessons from Diverse Household Experiences during a Global Pandemic

The proposed project examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on everyday family life and learning in a diverse cross-section of US households. We probe how social, health and educational needs are being negotiated within each household, and how families view and interpret their experiences. Members of 40 households (20 in Los Angeles, and 20 across the United States) will respond to prompts in written, recorded, or multi-modal diaries (twice weekly for two months). Two rounds of interviews will be conducted with each household (in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021). Both within and across households, we will analyze how social positioning along various axes of difference (gender, generation/age, social class/employment, local context, language, and immigration status) and access to different resources shape responses to and experiences with this crisis.