Work

Everyday Life after COVID-19 and the Moral Recalibration of Time

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the temporal organization and moral meanings of everyday life. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative interviews with the same 13 participants conducted during the 2020 lockdown and again in 2025, the study explores how experiences of temporal disruption were retrospectively reinterpreted and transformed into processes of moral recalibration. Through comparative narrative analysis, the study identifies five temporal-moral orientations (Reclaimed, Serene, Relational, Reflective and Autonomous Time) that capture distinct pathways through which participants reconstructed meaningful temporal lives after crisis, together constituting what we conceptualize as an ethics of rhythm. Building on these findings, the article introduces the concept of moral recalibration through temporal reflexivity to explain how morality is continually negotiated through everyday temporal practices and rhythms rather than through abstract understandings of time. More broadly, it demonstrates how collective disruption can generate enduring forms of temporal reflexivity through which individuals morally recalibrate everyday life.

Source: The Sociological Review

DOI: 10.1177/00380261261497801

Authors: Maria Sarmento, Sofia Amorim Lopes

Institutions: Centro de Estudos Organizacionais e Sociais, Universidade Técnica do Porto, University of Minho

Language: English

Topic: Social impacts of COVID-19

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900

Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia