Post-normal: Crisis and the End of the Ordinary

Abstract

This article examines the ubiquity of discussion about the normal in media commentary on the coronavirus pandemic. Almost all media commentary on the pandemic references a hope that things will soon, or at least eventually, ‘return to normal’. Yet what is meant by the normal is rarely the subject of explicit description; rather, its meaning is almost always taken for granted. This article examines the centrality of the concept of the normal to media commentary on the pandemic, showing that its significance is affective as much as semantic.