COVID and Sociological Imagination: Individual Experiences through History and Social Structure

By Galiyan Zheng

UCSB

The coronavirus pandemic is certainly one of the gravest challenges that have confronted humanity. The US is among the nations that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. It leads the world in the number of infections as well as in the number of deaths. While the human and health costs of the crisis are alarming, there is a need to consider the sociological implication of the coronavirus challenge. In particular, one needs to examine how much issues like history, race, poverty, and politics intersect to influence the impact on the coronavirus on individuals. Following a recent conversation with a close friend, Amy, I was able to determine that the coronavirus crisis underscores the validity of the social vulnerability theory as a tool for explaining human experiences. In an effort to highlight how the social vulnerability theory explains the current pandemic, and how these factors construct social imaginations and the role that one’s own vulnerabilities plays in shaping their experiences with COVID-19.

“This pandemic has really revealed to the world that we are not as great and immune as we think we are to challenges of this scale.” —— Chanah Park

At its core, the social vulnerability theory attempts to shed light on how individuals interact with social institutions and their communities. This theory stipulates that individuals encounter various stressors and are often unable to withstand the ill effects of these stressors. This theory plays an essential role in highlighting how certain populations are especially vulnerable to such stressors as the coronavirus pandemic. It allows one to recognize that multiple vulnerabilities can combine to compound the impact of a given stressor.

“It can cause someone to blame the world for struggles and have a pessimistic view on life expectation.” —— Eunice Kim

I held a discussion with Amy in effort to understand how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted minorities and communities of color. Amy is an Asian American from a low-income community which is among those that witnessed some of the worst effects of the pandemic. For example, during our conversation, Amy opened up about the deaths that had occurred in her community as well as the damage that the coronavirus crisis has dealt to the community’s economy. In the following sections, an analysis of the insights that Amy shared and the implications that they present for complex sociological issues is offered.

Another important issue that this course has examined is not being a person-of-color and the privilege that it affords. We were sensitized on how the conceptualization of whiteness in the US has historically shaped relations among different races and how it continues to influence American politics. For example, whiteness was presented as a privilege that offers access to opportunities, bestows status, and perpetuates exclusion. Amy’s testimony confirmed that white privilege is a real and serious challenge that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted. As part of our discussion, Amy mentioned that she felt that some of our white peers had been spared the adverse impacts of the pandemic. For example, she described how white students were better positioned to proceed with learning even as schools across the country were closed. More importantly, Amy added that whites were able to recover as opposed to minorities for whom the effects of the pandemic are likely to endure. Thanks to the conversation that I had, it is now evident that white privilege is among the problems that are derailing efforts to ensure equality for all Americans. As the pandemic unfolds, it can be expected that the racial disparities that exist in the US will become even clearer.