When Disaster Strikes - Part 7: Pandemic Politics
When Disaster Strikes 1 Part 1: Disasters Don't Create Inequality-They Reveal It 2 Part 2: Why Some Cities Burn (And Others Don't) 3 Part 3: The Sacrifice Calculus 4 Part 4: Elite Disaster Strategies 5 Part 5: Famine and Political Power 6 Part 6: Earthquakes and Governance 7 Part 7: Pandemic Politics 8 Part 8: Why We Forget ← Series Home Key Takeaways Pandemics reveal social structure: Who gets sick and who dies follows social fault lines that are normally invisible. Disease response is political: Quarantine, treatment, and resource allocation all reflect and reinforce existing power relations. Pandemics can shift power: The Black Death transformed European labor markets; COVID-19 is reshaping work and social provision. Health systems embody political choices: Universal vs. market-based healthcare produces radically different pandemic outcomes. The Great Equalizer? “The coronavirus doesn’t discriminate,” officials declared in early 2020. It was meant to be reassuring—we’re all in this together. ...