Self-fulfilling prophecy and the new normal postcoronavirus

Abstract

Based on evidence gathered in the literature, this investigation took as a theoretical starting point the proposition that speculations can become self-fulfilling. Therefore, there would be merit in studying the most current speculations, of a social and economic order, associated with the coronavirus that plagues the country - the stated objective of this work: part of the future may be being built by the consumption of these forecasts. Subordinating the work to the subjective conception of reality, this was conformed as qualitative, descriptive, cross-sectional, documentary, which used materials about the Novo Normal published in the Folha de São Paulo newspaper as a source of data that were treated and passed through content analysis. It was concluded that there is a significant set of speculative matters that only use Novo Normal as an anchor to offer propositions that would be on the agenda even without the pandemic, for example, the socio-environmental agenda or the intensified use of bicycles. As a rule, speculations are inaccurate, without the concern of offering timelines. They are technically questionable when they do not consider relevant and probable scenarios, such as the discovery of the vaccine and effective treatments or the pandemic's upsurge due to the emergence of a more contagious and lethal disease. But, regardless of such objections, such speculations cannot be dismissed, as they are being aired and may become a fact, not because they are a priori right, but because people can mark their behavior on them.