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The Cost of Inequality

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The Making of a Pandemic

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Psychology ((BRIEFSPSYCHOL))

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic hit a country already seriously divided by race, ethnicity, and class. Poor people and people of color were hit disproportionately by the pandemic. Two sets of structural factors bear much of the blame: characteristics of the jobs disproportionately held by the vulnerable groups and characteristics of the homes and neighborhoods in which they live.

The efforts to mitigate the pandemic also had a disproportionate impact on some groups, including women and young people. These differential effects handcuffed the country’s ability to fight the pandemic and further exacerbated the already-existing national disarray.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Women were more likely to lose (and not find new jobs) due to the pandemic: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/economy/women-job-losses-pandemic/index.html

    Also see https://www.brookings.edu/essay/why-has-covid-19-been-especially-harmful-for-working-women/

    And https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/10/30/492582/covid-19-sent-womens-workforce-progress-backward/

    And https://www.thenation.com/article/society/covid-women/

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    John Ehrenreich

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Ehrenreich, J. (2022). The Cost of Inequality. In: The Making of a Pandemic. SpringerBriefs in Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04964-4_9

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