Perspective of sustainable development in post-pandemic world: surveillance capitalism and hopes

Abstract

The current coronavirus pandemic is not only a health/healthcare crisis but to a vast extent it will also influence other spheres of life, including social relations, the shape of economy and working models, and natural environment. Sustainable development that relies on the previously mentioned pillars (economy, society, environment) is going to be strongly affected by the virus outbreak. There is a threat that the process of recovering from the corona crisis will accelerate and legitimize the dynamics of surveillance capitalism. A really interesting case is going to be the labor world, where thanks to modern technologies, suppression of personal freedoms and triumph of total surveillance might be particularly easy. However, good scenarios are also plausible. The first 21st century pandemic of that scale may force societies to redefine their current modus operandi and shift capitalism into a more sustainable, humanistic model.