Workshop – Epidemics and Society

While the natural and medical sciences can help us better understand the nature of the disease and ways to protect ourselves from it, the social sciences help us understand how epidemics affect our lives, and vice versa – how different social factors and currents affect epidemics. The students of the second grade of the high school discussed all these topics on October 21, 2020 with the Sociology teacher, Andrej Kubiček. During the workshop, they analyzed a presentation that they had previously designed with the help of Geography teacher, Jelena Popović Rakočević. In this way, the workshop participants were able to discover how the different sciences they learn about can jointly expand their knowledge on the most current topics. During the discussion, interesting and instructive parallels were made between the great epidemics from the past (plague, smallpox, HIV virus, etc.) and the current epidemic of the Corona virus. It was said that the spread of various diseases is an inevitable consequence of increasingly intensive contacts between people around the world. Also, the consequences of the infection do not affect all individuals in the same way, but those who live in a more difficult situation also have a harder time withstanding epidemics. Finally, the conclusion of the workshop was that epidemics, as well as any other phenomena dangerous to society and for individuals, can cause different reactions in people. Between panic and denial of risk as two extremes, the most reasonable reaction is certainly the application of medical advice and recommendations, and the best answer is responsibility towards oneself and others.Andrej Kubiček, Sociology teacher