New Books Network Ilana Gershon, "The Pandemic Workplace: How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
Feb 25, 2026
Ilana Gershon, an anthropologist at Rice University, explores how pandemic-era workplaces became laboratories for democratic life. She discusses how contracts, community norms, and pandemic decisions reshaped workplace authority. Short scenes include schools, retail, and grassroots problem solving. The conversation highlights why workplace rules feel political and how we learned civic skills on the job.
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Research Pivot From Contracts To Pandemic Work
- Gershon began studying employment contracts but shifted focus when interviewees started discussing workplace decisions during COVID.
- A July conversation pivoted her project into 220+ interviews about in-person work choices, producing the book.
Pandemic Shifted Discourse To Social Contract Ideas
- Instead of neoliberal frames, interviewees invoked social contract thinkers when balancing individual needs and the common good during COVID.
- Gershon expected neoliberal themes but found Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau were common reference points.
Workplace Teaches Democratic Skills
- Workplaces are now primary sites where Americans learn democratic norms and evaluate leadership.
- Ilana Gershon argues employees practice judging common good within corporations, shaping expectations of political leaders and governance.
