Covid-19 and Global Inequalities

This timely and powerful autoethnography traces the spread of and responses to Covid-19: from the uncertainty surrounding its outbreak, to its devastating and continued aftermath. Following the virus in real time, it explores the fears, risks and responses to the global pandemic, and how it has shaped our everyday lives against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, and the looming climate crisis. Social theorist and moral philosopher, Victor Jeleniewski Seidler, discusses fundamental questions of inequality and injustice regarding race, class and gender brought to the fore by the visibility of varying risk levels, vulnerabilities and protections provided by legislative measures against the virus. This interdisciplinary analysis scrutinises values, ethics, responsibilities and uncertain futures formed by the global health crisis, and evaluates media and communications strategies, government responses and political communications at domestic and international levels. Seidler shares critical insights into the cultural history of pandemics, highlighting lessons to be learned from anticipating, preparing for and enduring moments of crisis. Perceiving how the pandemic and climate emergency are interwoven, the book concludes with an urgent call to rebuild sustainable economic, political and ecological imaginations. This wide-reaching volume will appeal to a broad academic readership in environmental studies, sociology, philosophy, health studies, cultural studies, gender studies, media and communication.

Victor Jeleniewski Seidler is Professor Emeritus in Social Theory at the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. He has worked and published across the boundaries of social theory and philosophy, including works such as Urban Fears and Global Terrors: Citizenship, Multiculture and Belongings after 7/7; Remembering Diana: Cultural Memory and the Reinvention of Authority; Remembering 9/11: Terror, Trauma and Social Theory; Making Sense of Brexit: Democracy, Europe and Uncertain Futures and, most recently, Ethical Humans: Life, Love, Labour, Learning and Loss.

1. Plagues, Fearful Memories, Counting the Dead and Global Health Risks 2. Masculinities, Wars, Migrations and In/Visibilities 3. Global Inequalities, Migrations, Deprivations and Despair 4. Shocks, Isolations, Lockdowns and Fearful Futures 5. Authority, Trust, Bodies Risk and Contagion 6. Health Crisis, Economic Crisis and Political Crisis 7. Global Crisis, Lockdowns, Deaths and Disturbances 8. Sufferings, Illness, Fears, Breath and Restrictions 9. Denials, Language, Ethics and Responsibilities 10. Hospital Voices, Risks, Grief and Everyday Ethics 11. Trust, Gender Politics, Care Homes and Dispensable Bodies 12. Rituals, Technologies, Gender, Grief and Poverty 13. Hopes, Visions, Ecologies, Pandemics and Futures