Citizens Facing COVID-19: Inequalities and Vulnerabilities of the Working Class The World Before COVID-19

Abstract

This paper relies on recent studies to describe the hardship of working-class people during the COVID-19 crisis, their vulnerabilities, and how social inequalities play a significant role in their exposure to the virus and its more severe and potentially deadly expressions. We show how existing inequalities before the pandemic, along with public policy, create the sanitary, financial, and economic disaster we are facing now. It is crucial to understand the pandemic's impacts on blue-collar workers and state-sponsored measures to fight against it. This essay also shows the need for further research on working-class issues such as their resilience to financial and sanitary hardship.

Keywords

• inequality
• COVID-19
• vulnerability
• working-class
• financial resilience