When normality collapses from one moment to the next A sociological theory of singular crisis

Klaus Kraemer^1*Joris Alexander Steg²

• ¹University of Graz, Graz, Austria
• ²University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Since the emergence of sociology, it has been part of the discipline's self-image to diagnose crises in modern societies. Sociology, however, has no theory that differentiates between normal and extranormal or singular crises. In this article, we want to develop a crisis typology that distinguishes between these two types. While a normal crisis is characteriszed by cyclical and structural patterns, which usually build up gradually and lead to incremental change, a singular crisis is characteriszed by eruptive ruptures in relation to the pre-crisis state. Such ruptures can challenge the traditional social order, both institutionally and narratively. Unlike normal crises, a singular crisis is marked by exogenous shocks like wars, natural disasters, or pandemics. This shock marks the beginning of a process of crisis intervention, which we examine to reconstruct the sociological peculiarities of a singular crisis. By using the Covid-19-crisis as an empirical slide, we analyse a singular crisis and list various dimensions and criteria -namely involvement and impact, temporality, principle of order, social change, isomorphism, path dependency, collective morality, mode of legitimation and spatial order -that can be used to differentiate between singular and normal crises.