Help and Cooperation during a Pandemic Time. Outline of the Problem
The article presents the results of research, the axis of which were help initiatives taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. A characteristic feature, and previously unheard of on such a scale, is the initiation, and often full implementation of these activities in the virtual world. The time of the pandemic has blurred the clarity of the categories of those most affected or most in need of help in the events that took place. Another feature of the observed events is their phased. Its elements are spontaneously emerging groups that undertake aid actions. Restoring the “state of normality” and taking over the aid activities by institutions established for this slowed down and weakened the participation of ordinary people in organizing spontaneous activities. The time lived has the features of Turner’s liminality, and assistance groups can be described by the term Communitas.
