A Compilation of COVID-19 Pandemic Based Social Institutional Transformations

The COVID-19 pandemic created significant disruptions in the social organization of society globally, with far-reaching changes in all spheres of societal life. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive report on the impact of the pandemic on Ghanaian social institutions. A cross-sectional design was used. A sample of 30 males and females was purposively selected for the study. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed thematically. The findings disaggregated the impacts, challenges, and prospects of the pandemic. The impacts encompass the undertaking of miniature political party campaigns in the 2020 elections and periodic state-led situational pandemic updates, financial insecurity, interruptions in work activities, the closure of schools, and markets, and family integration/bonding. Key challenges encountered were the reopening of schools, restrictions on social gatherings and movements, inadequate financial resources, abandonment of pandemic death-related corpses, etc. The study revealed prospects at the individual (resort to digital modes of payment, relative adherence to rules and regulations), and institutional (local production of PPEs, e-preaching intensified), state (a paradigm shift in teaching and learning – e-learning), and the facilitation of ad-hoc philanthropism at the individual and institutional levels. In conclusion, the pandemic is a dramatic source of social change that impacted social institutions in Ghana.