From a distance: elements for a sociology of contact in the context of a pandemic [Desde la distancia: elementos para una sociología del contacto en un contexto de pandemia]

Abstract

We explore, throughout the paper, the reconfiguration of social relations under the imposition of physical distancing in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, we analyze the loss of the haptic dimension of socio-erotic relationships and the socio-cultural transformation that this entails. Based on a fieldwork at a distance, we explore how our own body and the one of those with whom we are emotionally and socially tied have become sinister, that is, familiar and strange at the same time. Finally, we argue that the momentary suspension of the historical and cultural common ground of socio-affective relationships has allowed to identify the conditions of their possibility of them, revealing them not only as intersubjective but also defined by other agents that determine the ecology of these relationships. © 2022, Sociologias. All Rights Reserved.