How Did 2020 Change Us? NYU Sociologist Eric Klinenberg Tackles the First COVID Year

NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg has spent his career studying how people make connections and forces that drive them apart. So when the COVID pandemic hit, he knew he had a unique opportunity to document how different types of isolation would alter our city in the world. Armed with insights from his previous work on disaster response, the value of shared social infrastructure, and the phenomenon of people choosing to live alone, Klinenberg and a team of researchers started interviewing New Yorkers who were living and working through the crisis. His new book, 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed, explores both the inspirational stories and the failures of that year, raising questions about how to repair political divisions, build trust, and better prepare for similar challenges in the future.