Movement and touch: Why bodies matter

ABSTRACT

What impact has social distancing, which is at its core physical distancing, had on the body and bodily practices in light of the digital society that we live in? What do established theories in the sociology of the body have to say about the societal relevance of bodies, and what kinds of eruptions and confusions have been unleashed by the COVID-19 crisis? This chapter investigates these questions, showing that the pandemic is changing the status of interaction between bodies, which is generated through orders of touch that, in turn, have led to changes in the formation of subjects. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.