Social Stratification and Racism During Covid-19

Abstract

Center of Social Science Research Student Paper Award Winners (2021), (Short Paper Winner) Throughout Covid-19, racial minorities—African Americans, Hispanics, Latinx, Asians, and Indigenous—have suffered the most due to the existing social stratification and racism. Racial minority groups have endured job loss and mortality rates much higher than their White counterparts since the beginning of the outbreak. In fact, 20% of Hispanics and 16% of African Americans reported being laid off (Jan & Clement, 2020) and 12.14% of the African American population in the US represented 21.46% of Covid-19 deaths (Roger et. al, 2020, pg. 4). Many racial minorities already live in the lower class and have poor housing in which Covid-19 only further perpetuated these circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to apply the theories of stratification and racism to interpret why there is inequality between Whites and racial minority groups.