Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction to a global pandemic -- Pandemic numbers, consequences, and contradictions -- The haves and never hads -- Global inequities : a tale of two pandemics -- Citizenship, migration, and legal belonging -- Vulnerable and minority populations -- Culture counts -- To learn or not to learn? -- Digital inequalities : exacerbating the divide -- Politics and ideologies -- Grey skies are gonna clear up? -- Vaccines : are we really all in this together? -- (Re-)building a post-pandemic world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated pre-existing social inequalities, leading to unequal impacts on individuals, communities, and countries. This book, COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities, examines these inequalities and their effects on the spread and impact of the virus, as well as the response to the pandemic.

The book takes a global approach and demonstrates how economic development, social class, race and ethnicity, access to healthcare and education, and other factors contribute to the unequal impact of the virus. For example, individuals in developing nations with weak healthcare systems, workers who cannot work remotely, and those without access to soap and water face higher risks of contracting and dying from the virus. Additionally, racial and ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, and urban and foreign migrants are among those who experience higher death rates from the virus.

The book also explores the ways in which inequality is embedded in national and international responses to the pandemic. The distribution of aid is often impacted by inequalities of demographic and national power and influence, resulting in competition rather than collaboration.

In summary, COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities is an important resource for academics, researchers, students, activists, and policymakers interested in understanding and addressing the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the inequalities it has exacerbated. It is part of Routledge's COVID-19 Pandemic series, which represents a timely and critical advance in knowledge related to what many believe to be the greatest threat to global ways of being in more than a century

English