Seeing Covid-19 through a subprime crisis lens: How structural and institutional racism have shaped 21st-Century crises in the UK and the US

Curry, Frank and Dymski, Gary and Lewis, Tanita J. and Szymborska, Hanna Karolina (2021) Seeing Covid-19 through a subprime crisis lens: How structural and institutional racism have shaped 21st-Century crises in the UK and the US. Review of Black Political Economy. ISSN 0034-6446

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Abstract

This special issue aims to use historical examples to gain insight into the socio-economic impact of, and possibilities of recovery from, the Covid-19 pandemic for Black communities. We approach this question by comparing the impact of the pandemic on Black Britons in the United Kingdom with that of the 2008 subprime crisis on Black Americans. We find that, in both cases, a pattern of racially asymmetric losses and race-neutral policy responses that have systematically ignored the disparate losses borne by Black and racial/ethnic minority communities. Both patterns are manifestations of these countries’ institutional racism. Relying on insights from stratification economics, and use of the concept of ‘racial formation’ introduced by Harold Baron in 1985, we show how these nations’ historical relationships to slavery and imperialism have led to different structures of racial control. Our review of UK government policy includes a critique of the March 2021 report of the UK Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/00346446211065174
Dates:
DateEvent
2 November 2021Accepted
21 December 2021Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords: institutional racism; Covid-19; subprime crisis; Black Britons; Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities
Subjects: CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-03 - social policy
CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-02 - economics > CAH15-02-01 - economics
Divisions: Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > Birmingham City Business School
Depositing User: Hanna Szymborska
Date Deposited: 09 Nov 2021 16:31
Last Modified: 22 Mar 2023 11:48
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12405

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