作者
Laura Robinson, Jeremy Schulz, Aneka Khilnani, Hiroshi Ono, Shelia R Cotten, Noah McClain, Lloyd Levine, Wenhong Chen, Gejun Huang, Antonio A Casilli, Paola Tubaro, Matías Dodel, Anabel Quan-Haase, Maria Ruiu, Massimo Ragnedda, Deb Aikat, Natalia Tolentino
发表日期
2020/7/6
期刊
First monday
卷号
25
期号
10
出版商
University of Illinois at Chicago
简介
In this article, we argue that new kinds of risk are emerging with the COVID-19 virus, and that these risks are unequally distributed. As we expose to view, digital inequalities and social inequalities are rendering certain subgroups significantly more vulnerable to exposure to COVID-19. Vulnerable populations bearing disproportionate risks include the social isolated, older adults, penal system subjects, digitally disadvantaged students, gig workers, and last-mile workers. Therefore, we map out the intersection between COVID-19 risk factors and digital inequalities on each of these populations in order to examine how the digitally resourced have additional tools to mitigate some of the risks associated with the pandemic. We shed light on how the ongoing pandemic is deepening key axes of social differentiation, which were previously occluded from view. These newly manifested forms of social differentiation can be conceived along several related dimensions. At their most general and abstract, these risks have to do with the capacity individuals have to control the risk of pathogen exposure. In order to fully manage exposure risk, individuals must control their physical environment to the greatest extent possible in order to prevent contact with potentially compromised physical spaces. In addition, they must control their social interactional environment to the greatest extent possible in order to minimize their contacts with potentially infected individuals. All else equal, those individuals who exercise more control over their exposure risk — on the basis of their control over their physical and social interactional environments — stand a better chance of …
引用总数