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In this brief paper, I argue that the coronavirus pandemic is functioning like an ethnomethodological 'breaching experiment'. In short, it is putting a gigantic spanner in the works of neoliberal governance, in the process exposing the widening cracks and fissures of what I have called the 'fractured society'. I begin by recalling Garfinkel's notion of the breaching experiment and by listing the principal attributes of the fractured society. I then explore the response to the coronavirus in the UK, from the government's initial commitment to 'herd immunity' to its present policy of 'muddling through'. The bulk of the remainder of this contribution addresses precisely how this global health crisis shines a harsh and unforgiving searchlight on the strategies and policies pursued by governments in the UK since 2010, and most especially after the passing of the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. In the closing paragraphs, I examine possible scenarios for a post-fractured society, making particular use of Fraser's concepts on 'reactionary' versus 'progressive populism', and conclude with a comment on sociology and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the stress process model with a sample of 475 Louisiana newlyweds, this research explores whether a more legally rigorous form of marriage (covenant marriage) substantially reduces depressive symptom disparities between Black and White spouses. Results suggest that Black and White wives share similar depressive symptom levels in the first few months of their marriage. Black husbands have higher levels of depression than White husbands. Life stressors substantially mediate the race gap in depressive symptoms for husbands, while buffers have little effect. After controlling for stressors, buffers and demographic measures, covenant marriage seems to buffer wives against depressive symptoms, though only weakly. For husbands, covenant marriage has no effect and does not reduce the race gap in depression. Thus, while covenant marriage may either select on wives with better mental health or buffer against depressive symptoms for some wives, covenant marriage does not have advantages for husbands, and especially distressed Black husbands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a disease of the liver with a range of potentially debilitating symptoms, the severity of which differ from person to person. HCV is a major public health challenge. Globally an estimated one in 12 persons is affected by the virus, and substantial new transmissions occur each year. The vast majority of new transmissions occur among people who inject drugs, particularly through practices such as sharing of needles, syringes and other injecting equipment. Behavioural surveillance data suggest that the majority of equipment sharing occurs between intimate partners. Despite this, very little research has focussed on intimate partnerships as a site of hepatitis C transmission or prevention. This is in part because people who inject drugs are conventionally represented as lacking capacity for romantic love and intimacy; also, drug 'addiction' is produced as the antithesis of voluntarity, autonomy and authenticity, all of which feature strongly in Western understandings of romantic love. This study aims to fill existing gaps in the literature about the relationship between romantic love and injecting drug use (IDU) and to explore injecting drug practices among partners in intimate relationships. Fifteen people who inject drugs, currently in long-term heterosexual relationships, were recruited for in-depth interviews, which were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. The main findings of this study are that romantic love and intimacy figure prominently in the lives of people who inject drugs, and that romantic notions such as commitment, trust, care and support shape how individuals who inject drugs talk about serostatus with their partners and how they account for injecting practices. Moreover, injecting practices are co-produced within intimate relationships, shaped by perceptions of risk within and outside the relationship, ideas of intimacy, and the specific levels of skill and expertise within these relationships. These findings have important implications for harm reduction strategies, which, we suggest, have largely failed to take into account the intimate relationship as a source of practice. We conclude with suggestions for future work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]