Dying is normal, dying with the coronavirus is not: a sociological analysis of the implicit norms behind the criticism of Swedish ‘exceptionalism’

Grothe‐Hammer, Michael; Roth, Steffen

doi:10.1080/14616696.2020.1826555

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…It has been suggested that the criticism of the Swedish strategy has been based on the perception that death from coronavirus infection somehow is more harmful to society than death from another infection [ 11 ]. The implicit assumption behind this suggestion is that the pandemic’s mortality rate was not substantially higher than during previous seasonal influenzas and that all-cause excess mortality in Sweden differed significantly from the confirmed coronavirus-related mortality throughout the pandemic wave.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Excess Mortality and Years of Life Lost to COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden between March and November 2020

Rypdal

Løvsletten

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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We estimate the weekly excess all-cause mortality in Norway and Sweden, the years of life lost (YLL) attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden, and the significance of mortality displacement. We computed the expected mortality by taking into account the declining trend and the seasonality in mortality in the two countries over the past 20 years. From the excess mortality in Sweden in 2019/20, we estimated the YLL attributed to COVID-19 using the life expectancy in different age groups. We adjusted this estimate for possible displacement using an auto-regressive model for the year-to-year variations in excess mortality. We found that excess all-cause mortality over the epidemic year, July 2019 to July 2020, was 517 (95%CI = (12, 1074)) in Norway and 4329 [3331, 5325] in Sweden. There were 255 COVID-19 related deaths reported in Norway, and 5741 in Sweden, that year. During the epidemic period of 11 March–11 November, there were 6247 reported COVID-19 deaths and 5517 (4701, 6330) excess deaths in Sweden. We estimated that the number of YLL attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden was 45,850 [13,915, 80,276] without adjusting for mortality displacement and 43,073 (12,160, 85,451) after adjusting for the displacement accounted for by the auto-regressive model. In conclusion, we find good agreement between officially recorded COVID-19 related deaths and all-cause excess deaths in both countries during the first epidemic wave and no significant mortality displacement that can explain those deaths.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Excess Mortality and Years of Life Lost to COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden between March and November 2020

Rypdal

Løvsletten

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…7. The issue of the somewhat privileged status of COVID-19 ill people compared to patients suffering from other diseases is very convincingly elaborated in Grothe-Hammer and Roth (2020). …”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting the virus, “hunting the witches” – moralizing in public discourses during the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia

Žažar

2021

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Purpose The purpose of the paper is to discuss particular features of the public debate around the COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation strategies in Croatian media from the beginning of 2020 to mid-September of the same year. Design/methodology/approach The discussion is theoretically grounded on Luhmann’s concept of moral communication combined with the key assumption of critical discourse analysis that language reflects a position of power of social actors. Based on these premises, the analysis of a sample of articles in a chosen online media was conducted to uncover the moral codes in the public debate concerning the corona outbreak and connect them with specific moral discourses of particular social actors. Findings The findings clearly indicate that the communication about the pandemic is considerably imbued with moralization and that moral coding is profoundly used to generate preferred types of behaviour of citizens and their compliance with the imposed epidemiologic measures. In conclusion, Luhmann’s claim of moralization as a contentious form of communication is confirmed as the examined public discussion fosters confrontations and generates disruptions rather than contributing to a productive dialogue among diverse social actors. Originality/value The novelty of the approach lies in the combination of Luhman’s conceiving of moral communication with critical discourse analysis that, taken together, entails a pertinent research tool for analysing relevant attributes of the ongoing vibrant debate on the coronavirus outbreak.

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“…Restabilising is a dire need, as the current situation exports the moral dilemmas onto individuals, who carry them around without the functions to resolve the distinctions to clear moral orders. Posing the question as a distinction between life and death, or even moralising over illegitimate ways to die (Grothe-Hammer and Roth, 2020) in contrast to legitimate ways, demonstrate internal pathways of moral struggle. “Health and education are values that take in all efforts to improve a given situation without resistance–they are values without measure.…”

Section: Meeting At a Moral Crossroadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diabolical perspectives on healthy morality in times of COVID-19

Clausen

2021

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PurposeThe paper combines the systems theoretical perspective on the evolution of societal differentiation and the emergence of codes in communication. By combining the approach by Niklas Luhmann with a historical theology on the development of Christian morality split between God and Devil, it recreates a sociological point of observation on contemporary moral forms by a temporary occupation of the retired Christian Devil.Design/methodology/approachThe article combines a Luhmannian systems theoretical perspective on the evolution of societal differentiation with a concept of emerging codes in communication. The latter is based on on the development of a Christian view of morality being split between God and Devil. It establishes a sociological point of observation on contemporary moral forms through the temporary invocation of the retired figure of the Christian Devil.FindingsThe proposed perspective develops a healthy perspective on the exuberant distribution of a health(y) morality across the globe during the pandemic crisis of 2020–21. The temporary invocation of the retired Christian Devil as point of departure in this sociological analysis allows for a disturbing view on the unlimited growth of the morality of health and its inherent dangers of dedifferentiating the highly specialised forms of societal differentiation and organisation.Originality/valueBy applying the diabolical perspective, the analytical framework creates a unique opportunity to observe the moral encodings of semantic forms in detail, while keeping the freedom of scientific enquiry to choose amongst available distinctions in the creation of sound empirical knowledge. This article adopts a neutral stance, for the good of sociological analysis. The applications of the term “evil” to observations of communication are indifferent to anything but itself and its qualities as scientific enquiry.

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Dying is normal, dying with the coronavirus is not: a sociological analysis of the implicit norms behind the criticism of Swedish ‘exceptionalism’

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

Estimation of Excess Mortality and Years of Life Lost to COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden between March and November 2020

Estimation of Excess Mortality and Years of Life Lost to COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden between March and November 2020

Fighting the virus, “hunting the witches” – moralizing in public discourses during the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia

Diabolical perspectives on healthy morality in times of COVID-19

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