How are families faring during the Covid 19 pandemic? Cultural anthropologist (Ph.D. University of Chicago), author and renowned speaker Grant McCracken has studied American culture for 25 years and has made a name for himself speaking to the idea that culture directly impacts both our economy and our place within its evolution as humans invent and reinvent themselves.
He has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, was the founder and director of the Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum (where he did the first museum exhibit on youth cultures,) and was a member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT. He has taught at the University of Cambridge and is affiliated with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Business School. He has consulted for organizations such as Timberland, New-York Historical Society, Diageo, IKEA, Sesame Street, Nike, the Ford Foundation, and the White House on the implications of where culture and commerce meet.
He knows his stuff.

Often the ignored concept of conversion of culture and commerce by academics, McCracken’s two books: Culture and Consumption I, and Culture and Consumption II reveal the impact that the cultural influence of society directly has on consumerism. Self-led human evolution and how it intersects with commerce are explored in two more books: Big Hair and Transformations: identity construction in contemporary culture.
Plenitude published in 1997 looked at the new explosive growth of the contemporary culture. In Flock and Flow, he shows how contemporary culture and commerce change and in Chief Culture Officer he argues that culture now creates so much opportunity and danger for the organization that needs senior managers who focus on it full time. He is hoping this will create a new occupational destination for graduates in the arts and humanities.

The age of COVID 19 has rather interestingly created a new opportunity for McCracken to apply his innovative theories. Devising a simple survey to determine how quarantine has affected Americans, he has found it is creating a stronger bond between families, specifically mothers, and daughters. This shows that families are sticking together and supporting one another during a time that many are finding quite difficult. Cultural anthropologist, Grant McCracken conducted a brief survey that shows the impact that quarantine had on the relationship with families.
Where was the bond between mothers and daughters before the Covid pandemic?
What do you feel was the state of family connection before the pandemic if you’ve noticed that it is now getting stronger?
How did you come up with that information?
What are the ways in which a stronger mother-daughter bond will affect the dynamics of our society in general?
