To relate sociological theories to any aspects of pandemic, we need to understand how

any disease or illness can be incorporated with one’s identity and how these two concepts
are related. The interrelationship between these two concepts is gaining considerable
sociological attention. Previously, studies had only evaluated over how patients' identities
got fragmented and how they've been stigmatized in social structure. Studies these days
put greater attention to the concept of an individual's sense of self and how they strive to
preserve this even when they are afflicted. 
Relationship between Identity and illness:  
There are two aspects of this relationship- 
1. The effects of illness on identity: 
Studies of identity and illness started with the work of Talcott Parsons (1951) which is
known as the theory of the sick role. However, theory has been critiqued because of its
negligence towards the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses. After that,
several concepts like "loss of self" and “reciprocal relationship between self and
society” were introduced. The concept of the self is an artifact of society and social
force. 
      2.   The effects of identity on illness:  
The mainstream researches have concentrated on the impact of illness on one's identity.
According to the new studies, however, one's identity might have an influence on one's
health or illness experience. 
Identity Theory: 
The identity theory deals with how social structure affects people's identities and
behaviors. By certain theories, individual identities are formed by the societal positions or
roles they occupy inside the social structure. According to Stryker and Burke, they
acquire meaning along with normative manners from the structure. There are different
forms of identities that are recognized by social psychologists. The most prevalent of
these are "role identities" in sociology. Individuals adopt role positions to draw meaning
about themselves and their surroundings. These roles have a significant impact on the
individual's self-concept and serve to integrate them to the social structure. The
framework of identity theory consists of three other theories like-  
 Structural symbolic interaction 
  Affect control theory 
 Identity control theory. 
Structural symbolic interaction: 
The self, according to structural symbolic interaction, is essentially derived from the
larger social system in which one is embedded. According to Stryker (1980), individual's
concept of self is often made up of considerably lesser number of societal roles and role
identities. One's identity hierarchy is made up of particular role identities to which they
are mainly devoted. Two important concepts can influence one’s identity, that are- 
Commitment: Consists of a set of social relationship, which might be disrupted if the
individual abandon a role. 
Saliency: It is Individual’s personal and emotional amalgamation to any particular role of
himself.  
According to Charmaz (1980), when a societal role is predominantly salient to any
individual, he may engage in the behavior associated with it even when it is out of place.
Individuals, hold some role identities in higher regard than others because of their own
interest do. A role identity that is intensely established in their shared networks and has
several affecting reward is more likely to be salient to them than roles that are
not. Structured symbolic interaction, according to Stryker and Statham (1985), is founded
on the concept of making the role rather than taking the role. Some patients may be more
involved in their therapy than others, prompting – as well as encouraging – their
physician to be less dictatorial. 
In this Covid-19 situation,  
This theory is relevant in the sense that if a patient of Covid-19 whose role of worker is
disrupted due to his illness it will be not easy for him if he believes that doing so will jeopardize
his function as husband or, if he is the prime financial support for his children and the
breadwinner. It may be much more difficult to make a decision if the majority of
his relationships are likewise based on her employment. 
Affect control theory: 
Affect control theory focuses on the behavioral processes a human being undertakes to regulate
and retain an identity. Contrasting other theories of identity, which are mainly cognitive, affect
control theories relies on sentiment structures to predict actions. Affect control theorists are
especially concerned in the correlation amid individuals' fundamental sentiments and
the transient sentiments that shape appropriate interaction during a specific encounter
between social actors. There are three major dimensions in affect control theory such as- 
 Evaluation 
 Potency 
 Activity 
Affect control theory hypothesized that public are correspondingly driven to retain the identities
of their communication associates, in addition to their own core identities (Heise 2006).if the
identities of communication associates are questioned, individuals are required to engage in
ways that restore the stability. 
In this Covid-19 situation,  
This theory is relevant in context of stigma sentiment. During this particular period, social stigma
has been a major worry. There are various forms of stigmas, such as abandoning the sufferer,
breaking up a marriage, moving away from relatives, neglecting family members, denial of
treatment, abandonment of a dead body after the affected person's death, and non-burial,
among others. This stigma has great influences over the identity of the patient, which can have
impact on patient’s self-appraisal and reflected self-appraisal.  
Identity control theory: 
In the identity control theory, an individual uses a feedback loop to influence her perception of
situational meanings. This process is anticipated to synchronize contextual inputs with the
identity (Burke and Cast 1997). Those who perceive a discrepancy among fundamental attitudes
and experiences are required to change the aspects of their interaction. Individuals are
motivated not merely to keep their chosen self-identities as they are today, but also to
accomplish identities, which they may foresee in the future, according to Granberg (2006).
Granberg's research only looked at positive achievable selves, but it is logical to assume that a
quantity of people is motivated to avoid unpleasant selves.  
In the current Covid-19 situation,  
We can see that many people do not want to be vaccinated for fear of side effects in the future.
Many of them think that this can cause their blood to clot. Because such problems have been
observed in some European countries. There are also many people who have been infected
after being vaccinated. In this case, relatives who have not been vaccinated are discouraged
from getting the vaccine. 
We can conclude the section with the understanding that human beings are bound to defend
their core sense of self according to these psychological theories of identity. We believe that
properly embracing these theories will lead to a compound and nuanced understanding of the
correlation between identity and illness. Theories might enable academics and now even
professionals in better understanding why some people appear to be different.