This paper raises a discussion on innovation, nature of knowledge and the growing significance of skills in contemporary society. We propose the argument that knowledge is commonly perceived in terms of skills only, as a result of an applicability logic rule in knowledge based social orders. Moreover, innovation is recognized as yet another central issue of our times that is strongly interrelated to technological developments and the realm od science. Creativity as a specific human feature, on the other hand, is widely accepted as a critical precondition for generating innovative products and ideas. The essential problem lies in the oversight of the role humanities and arts play in nurturing humanistic values, whereas means are commonly mistaken for an end.

In this paper we explore social responses, attitudes and social practices of everyday life in the midst of a complete social closure at an early stage of corona crisis, based on original empirical survey data collected via online questionnaire (N=352) during the lockdown and state of emergency in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Aiming to analyse social implications of the ongoing crisis and directions for future research we have particularly focused on several dimensions: work, free time and everyday activities, attitudes towards the new uncertainty and specific needs of different social groups in the context of crisis. Social responses to novel living circumstances have highlighted problems related to the status of vulnerable groups present from before in a society that is most commonly categorized as a country in transition marked by post-war challenges. Results show that established discrimination practices have resurfaced while vulnerable social groups’ living conditions have significantly aggravated even early at the times of pandemic emergence.