Experiencing and predicting the crisis by polish households in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this text is to present households’ approaches to the experienced or anticipated crisis related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses are based on daily journals and diaries obtained in the first edition of the “Everyday life in the times of coronavirus” diary competition organized during the first months of the pandemic (March-July 2020). The analysis of materials written by people in very different life and economic situations showed that household resources influenced the severity and perception of the costs of the pandemic. In this article we show how the uneven impact of the pandemic manifests itself in the trajectory processes, expectations and ideas of the future, and attitudes towards the “looming black clouds” heralding the crisis. We argue that the effects of the uncertainty caused by the pandemic will affect the future activities of some households, and the realised trajectory potential itself, even without transforming into a trajectory of failure or a real struggle to maintain the household’s financial situation at the current level, can cause loss of a sense of security.