Michigan Minds Podcast: Covid-19 and Social Infrastructure
Along with residents of other states, Michiganders have been advised by state leadership to stay at home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. This means that people are not able to visit many of the places they typically frequent. Those social infrastructure sites where people gather, connect, and socialize are often called “third places”— locations outside the home and workplace that facilitate social interaction, community building, and social support. In this episode of Michigan Minds, Jessica Finlay, postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Social Research, explains how third places provide a social glue to society, and shares her thoughts on how the pandemic is impacting them.