Abstract

Throughout history and across the world, most masks have served to disguise, cloak or alter identity, whether within the special circumstances of formality and theatre, the perpetuation of crimes or the veiling of girls. Medical masks, against this, are meant to not hide but to guard. They maintain the wearer’s identity while encouraging solidarity instead of segregation. The pandemic has made people across the planet assign different meanings thereto. Symbolic Interactionism looks into these changes in meanings assigned to an object and this mask trend might be a serious culture shift for the West. But the symbolic school also states that the meanings are subject to vary. And, masks are just elements of current history and maybe viewed as an emerging cultural norm. But as this pandemic evolves, a set of empirical data helps to create an image of COVID times along with the evolution of masks. Social solidarity means a social cohesion based upon the dependence which individuals have on each other in more advanced societies. Character mask are prescribed social role that serves to conceal the contradiction of a social relations or order.

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