A moral(izing) virus. An introduction

Moral panics play a relevant role in the equilibrium and boundary-maintenance ofthe symbolic-moral universes and represent the struggle of competing and conflicting groups holding different value systems and power differentials. In a neo-Durkheimian fashion, the construction of “hierarchies of credibility and morality” produces macrosocial generalized motivation accounts that “provide social actors with ready-made attributions, explaining events not only after they occur, but also giving cause to future behavior”. The cultural-symbolic analysis of the moralizing effects of COVID-19 shows the existing connections at the micro-level interaction with the broader societal structures, not only through the use of new rhetorical and motivational devices but also through the production of new stigma-related hierarchies related to the relationship between military and sanitary, freedom and safety .