Rethinking Democracy | INEQUALITY

Recorded May 13, 2020. ‘They tell us corona-virus is a great
leveller. It’s not. It’s much much harder if you are poor. How do
we stop it from making social inequality even greater.’ – Emily
Maitlis, BBC Newsnight Racial and ethnic minority communities are
disproportionately affected by Covid-19. They are more likely to
have the underlying health conditions that make the virus fatal.
They are also more likely to live in poor accommodation and work in
lower paid frontline jobs. Migrant workers as well as low income,
homeless and refugee populations are likewise particularly
vulnerable. The economic fallout from the pandemic will hit these
groups the hardest. Far from being a ‘great leveller’, Covid-19 is
exacerbating existing structural inequalities. Policies formulated
to respond to the immediate pandemic and mitigate its lasting
consequences could deepen existing divides. Or, they could be
designed to bring about radical change, and produce fairer
societies. The third in a five-part series, this workshop will
interrogate the role of inequality in the Covid-19 public health
emergency. Our speakers will explore issues related to class,
gender, race, sexuality and religion as well as attempts to assign
blame and scapegoat. Looking to the future, they will also discuss
the need for a broad project of and commitment to equality. The
floor will then be open for participants to respond: to ask
questions and to widen the parameters of the conversation.
Panellists Shamus Khan is Chair and Professor of Sociology at
Columbia University. He writes on culture, inequality, gender, and
elites. In recent response to the school closures, he developed the
Youth Remote Learning online platform to engage students who are on
hiatus from traditional classrooms. Sucheta Mahajan is a Professor
at the Centre for Historical Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi and a former Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting
Research Fellow. She works on the history and politics of the
twentieth century, movements for social change, connected histories
of independence and partition and the practice of oral and public
history. Colm Tóibín is an award-winning Irish novelist, short
story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet.
His works include Brooklyn (2008), The Empty Family (2010) and The
Master (2004). He is currently Mellon Professor in the Department
of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Learn
more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/